Catholic Ragemonkey

From my "Good Coming From Unexpected Quarters" file:

I was looking through my news folders and found this rather interesting little tidbit. It turns out that Richard Branson, media mogul of Virgin Records fame, is looking to branch out and move into the bio-tech field. He's looking to get involved with stem cells.

Now, check your mental pressure. When I saw the headline, I made the same assumption you did. "Oh, great," I thought, "another chattering naybob pushing for embryo destruction that may or may not actually do something while established and effective lines of research are neglected." Well, that's what I get for just reading the headline.

Branson's operation is an umbilical cord blood storage facility. You read that right, the man is both trying to be ethical and turn a profit. What a novel thought! Of course, this doesn't mean I am going to run out and buy up Virgin Records products or book my next flight on Virgin air, but it is pleasing to see this happen. What's also a pleasant bonus of the article is that, unlike many U.S. media outlets, the article nicely sums up the successes of ethical stem cell research.