No Animals Will Be Harmed

Unless experiments on humans fail. The European Commission is proposing a directive that labs must use embryos for experimentation in order to spare animals. Not only is this a naked power grab, denying to EU member states the right to make their own decisions about what's ethically appropriate, it's gross:

An accompanying EC report explains that the policies will mean that in any tests involving prenatal development, human embryonic stem cells must be used before animals. "The establishment of human embryonic stem cells in 1998 raised hopes in many research areas, including the development of alternatives to animal experiments," the report says. It recommends human embryonic research as a "powerful alternative to animal tests."

"Never again," we cry. But the "N" is silent.