U.S. science being left in the dust

To the editor;

According to recent news reports, South Korean scientists have made a dramatic breakthrough in embryonic stem-cell research with great potential for medical advancement. In China, doctors are using stem-cell research to treat ALS patients from Southeast Missouri. A British technology company is on the verge of unlocking the vast potential of fuel cells as a commercially viable source of energy. Toyota is years ahead of GM in the deployment of fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles. Government-subsidized consortiums in Europe now produce the world's largest passenger plane and one of the world's most reliable space rockets.

Meanwhile, back in Texas, President Bush banned federally funded research on all but a few old embryonic stem-cell lines and threatened to veto legislation from his Republican Congress funding it. In Kansas, the board of education is conducting an inquisition with the intent of severely limiting the teaching of science in school. In Washington, Congress embraces right-wing fundamentalist philosophies that seek to deny 200 years of social and scientific progress and return us to the good old days of leech therapy, bleeding and exorcism.

Does anyone see a pattern here? If the present trend continues, the United States runs the risk of becoming a pathetic third-rate scientific power not only dependent on the rest of the world for its oil, but also for medicine, transportation, technology and jobs. Fundamentalist fear and loathing of all things scientific may leave Americans eating the dust of societies that have chosen a wiser path.

WILL RICHARDSON, Jackson