Obama reverses stem cell research ban

Monday, March 9. In yet another reversal of George Bush era policies, Barack Obama was due to sign an executive order today lifting restrictions on government funding for stem cell research. Stem cells are the cells from which any other cells in the human body can be grown and scientists believe they will eventually be used to cure diseases like Alzheimers and Parkinsons.

Members of the scientific community now hope an end to the ban on government-funded stem cell research will encourage congressmen also to overturn a ban on providing taxpayer dollars to finance the creation of the embryos from which stem cells are extracted. Such a ban has been in place since 1996 and has been renewed by Congress every year where it is strongly supported by anti-abortionists who object to the killing of embryos in the process of extracting the stem cells from them. While tax dollars have not yet been used to finance such research, privately funded clinics have routinely been creating embryos using their own money.

In the New York Times, Sheryl Stolberg reports that though he is lifting the stem cell funding ban, Obama is avoiding "the thorniest question in the debate: whether taxpayer dollars should be used to experiment on embryos themselves." However, Stolberg also points out that federally-funded experimentation on embryos is "an idea so controversial and fraught with ethical implications that the mere discussion of it would have been unthinkable just a few months ago, when President George W. Bush was in office".

The House minority leader, John Boehner, has said that while overturning the ban on government-funded stem cell research is not a big deal (athough President Bush twice vetoed attempts to do so), funding embryo creation is. "The question is whether taxpayer dollars should be used to subsidise the destruction of precious human life," he said. "Millions of Americans strongly oppose that, and rightfully so. Taxpayer dollars should not aid the destruction of innocent human life."

Other politicians on Capitol Hill are more concerned that Obama is trying to divert attention away from the economic crisis. "There’s a reason it's coming up this week," House minority whip Eric Cantor told CNN. "Why are we going and distracting ourselves from the economy? This is job number one, let’s focus on what needs to be done… Let’s take care of business first – people are out of jobs."

Meanwhile in the UK, scientists have expressed concern that a softened stance on embryo research in the US could lead to a 'brain drain' from other countries. A new stream of financial support "could prove tempting for British researchers who are struggling to raise the money they need for their experiments," report Mark Henderson and Tim Reid in the Times.

But writing for the Daily Telegraph, Ian Douglas welcomes the new attitude to scientific research and the scientific team Obama has brought together to put American science back on the map. "After long years of stagnant funding and church groups having more say over R&D [research and development] spending than the science community, it looks as though there's some light seeping into the most powerful nation on earth," says Douglas, who also points out that Obama's recent budget announcement earmarks $20bn in federal dollars for scientific research. "We are yet to see how that money will be spent, but a government that believes in scientific enquiry is the best starting point they could have."

LAST UPDATED 2:32 PM, MARCH 9, 2009