I think 2bitencryption's point is more along the lines that the government regulates fields and that regulation quickly becomes unworkable because its a "quickly-evolving new technology market." For example, if the government mandated that all computers had to be Windows 9x-compatible that might have prevented the rise of the iPhone.

The embryonic stem-cell research ban didn't have anything to do with the underlying science and technology--it was based on a moral objection to the practice of destroying embryos for research. If the government had, for example, mandated the use of some testing methodology that soon became obsolete, that might be more on point.