NPR: Obama Lifts Restrictions on Stem Cell Research

President Barack Obama removed restrictions on the federal funding ofembryonic stem cell research put in place under the Bushadministration, fulfilling a controversial campaign promise. He alsoissued on Monday a presidential memorandum intended to further separatepolitics and science.

President Barack Obama removed restrictions on the federal funding ofembryonic stem cell research put in place under the Bushadministration, fulfilling a controversial campaign promise. He alsoissued on Monday a presidential memorandum intended to further separatepolitics and science.

"Medical miracles do not happen simplyby accident," Obama said in a ceremony Monday. "They result frompainstaking and costly research — from years of lonely trial and error,much of which never bears fruit — and from a government willing tosupport that work," he said.

New Momentum For Stem Cell Research

The stem cell restrictions, imposed by former President George W. Bush,limited federal spending for embryonic stem cell research to a smallnumber of cell lines created before Aug. 9, 2001.

Bush'srestrictions were strongly supported by the pro-life community, whichcontends that destroying human embryos is morally wrong. Butresearchers say many of the early cell lines have major drawbacks.Scientists have created hundreds of other cell lines since then, whichhave been off-limits to researchers who received federal dollars.

Embryonic stem cell research is believed to hold the key for bettertreatments and possible cures for diseases including diabetes andparalysis. The cells have the potential to turn into any cell in thehuman body, which is what makes them so promising to researchers.Proponents, from former first lady Nancy Reagan to the late actorChristopher Reeve, have long called for ending the limits on federalspending.

But the research is highly controversial becauseembryonic cell are derived from human embryos, which are destroyed inthe process.

And while the new order will allow researchers touse federal funds to work with new cell lines, a legislative ban on theuse of federal dollars to create new stem cell lines remains in place.

Obama said he would develop strict guidelines for how the research isconducted and would prohibit the use of cloning for human reproduction.The president also said that he could not guarantee more research wouldlead to new treatments and cures, but opening up new research was worththe gamble to "make up for lost ground."

A Controversial Decision

Rep. Diana DeGette [D-CO] has been working to overturn the Bushadministration restrictions since they were first imposed. The nextstep, she said, is for Congress to write federal standards for theresearch funding into law, "in large part because we don't want to seethis become a ping pong ball between different administrations like theinternational family planning issues and other issues have become."Those policies have switched back and forth depending which party is incontrol of the White House.

Opponents of the embryonic stemcell research funding are already crying foul. Virginia RepublicanCongressman Eric Cantor warned on CNN that, "federal funding ofembryonic stem cell research can bring on embryo harvesting, perhapseven human cloning."

'Restoring Scientific Integrity'

Obama also signed a presidential memorandum on Monday directing thehead of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to"develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to governmentdecision making." The memorandum, Obama explained, would ensure thathis administration's policies would be based on "the soundest science,"and that scientific advisors be appointed "based on their credentialsand experience, not their politics or ideology."

Rep. DianaDeGette says that during the Bush administration, scientific policy wasoften dictated by things other than scientific evidence. "It startedwith global climate change, where the Bush administration announcedthey really didn't believe it was true, contrary to the scientificevidence. And then it moved all the way through (to) abstinence-onlysex education, stem cell research and many other issues," she said.

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