Bush Declares War on Science

The most shocking element of President Bush's State of the Union speech tonight came when he called for a ban on human cloning in any form. This is a direct attack on the science establishment in the U.S., which sees embryonic stem cell cloning from a person's own cells (somatic cell nuclear transfer to use the technical term) as the key to maximizing the potential of stem cell research. It may not ever come to pass. But the president tonight said Americans shouldn't even try.

How many scientists, not to mention patient advocates, will buy into that argument?