Subscription Center
Mar 9, 2009 03:50 PM | 16
President Obama today lifted an eight-year-old ban on embryonic stem cell research, signing an executive order that he called "an important step in advancing the cause of science in America."
"We will vigorously support scientists who pursue this research," Obama said at a signing ceremony in the White House. "And we will aim for America to lead the world in the discoveries it one day may yield."
Obama's order ends former President George W. Bush's limit on federally funded embryonic stem-cell research to cell lines created before Aug. 9, 2001. Congress tried twice to reverse that ban, and his National Institutes of Health (NIH) director, Elias Zerhouni, urged an end to the restrictions, but Bush vetoed the legislation both times.
Proponents of the research believe the cells could one day be used to treat debilitating diseases including diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and to reverse spinal-cord injuries. (The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) green-lighted the first trial of embryonic stem cells for spinal cord injuries days after Obama took office.) Opponents of such research say it's morally wrong to study cells derived from embryos that are destroyed in the process.
"In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values," Obama said during the signing ceremony. "In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent. As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research – and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly."
Ihor Lemischka, director of the Black Family Stem Cell Institute at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, said today's action is "extremely significant. It opens up the prospect of funding for a much broader swath of research."
Bush's ban limited federally funded research to embryonic stem-cell lines that scientists said had been compromised or contaminated. As states and private foundations moved ahead with the research using other sources of funding, thousands of cell lines were developed that reflect the country's genetic diversity and may reveal previously unknown insights into human cell development, Lemischka said. "When you have that large number of lines available, it makes no sense to limit research to those few lines available before 2001," Lemischka told ScientificAmerican.com.
"In the short term, a lot of people that were previously not planning to submit grant proposals [to NIH for federal funds] will probably be doing so," he said, adding that the new research opportunities complement the $7.4 billion in the stimulus package for NIH grants. "Clearly, having science policy be dictated in large part by the best scientific evidence and rationale is a very healthy thing. It's fair to say the barriers are largely removed into developing insights into how diseases occur using embryonic stem cell research and that [could lead] to better diagnostics, better pharmaceutical drugs and how humans develop."
Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) secretary-designee Kathleen Sebelius, working with NIH acting director Lawrence Tabak, will have four months to set ethical and reporting guidelines governing the research. In addition, Congress could draft legislation to codify Obama's order, making it tough for a future president to reverse.
In an afternoon teleconference, Tabak said that some of the $787 billion stimulus package could be applied to grant awards and that NIH would review where the stem cells would come from. The legislation Bush vetoed would have allowed unused embryos from IVF clinics to be used for research with donors' permission. "The executive order takes no position on specific scientific matters, so NIH will undertake a very careful and deliberative look," Tabak said. "The end goal is to ensure responsible and scientifically worthy stem cell research."
Story Landis, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said during the press briefing that it was too early to speculate when the first grants would be awarded, though she said the agency may start considering applications before the guidelines are finalized.
"We're very appreciative of the president's decision today," Tabak said. "The most immediate benefit is it signals to the scientific community that this field is now going to be expanded. For young scientists, it sends a very powerful message that this is an area of research that has enormous potential and is one they may want to be involved in in a very real way."
Obama today also ordered the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to "restor[e] scientific integrity to government decision making." He wasn’t specific about how that might happen, but said science advisers should be appointed based on their credentials, "not their politics or ideology," and that officials should "be open and honest with the American people about the science behind our decisions." The Bush administration was criticized for politicizing science on issues such as approval of over-the-counter emergency contraception and regulation of industrial emissions that scientists say cause global warming.
Updated at 5:20 p.m. with comments from Lawrence Tabak.
Fluorescent microscopic image of neurons generated from human embryonic stem cells/Xianmin Zeng, Buck Institute for Age Research courtesy of California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Tags:
embyro,
diabetes,
stem cells,
spinal cord,
Parkinson's disease,
Alzheimer's
More News Blog:
Next: That Splenda you're drinking will be in our water supply for awhile
Previous: Parents, don't tell your kids about your wild drinking days, says Intel finalist
See what we're tweeting about
JenLucPiquant Two SLAC physicists design and build X-ray devices that scan cargo containers for nuclear materials, other hazards. http://t.co/jt0Ouc181a
marisfessenden Women have always fought. Read this. (Also includes awesome art) HT @roseveleth http://t.co/x4g846BpBB via @skepchicks
FlyingTrilobite Rob Ford didn't smoke crack. He said so. It's all over. (Please let it be over. I miss the jokes about the army digging us out of snow.)
Deadline: Jul 30 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Seeker desires a method for producing pseudoephedrine products in such a way that it will be extremely difficult for clandestine che
Deadline: Jul 15 2013
Reward: $5,000 USD
SciBX: Science-Business eXchange, a joint publication from the makers
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
16 Comments
Add CommentThis is a great day for America, a chance to regain the bioscientific lead in stem cell research and provide stem cells for stroke and brain tumor injury repair with stem cells. They have already done it in London in rats using a new scaffolding technique that only takes a week to show benefits. So please no more grant proposals for redundant animal test scores. Please let us move new stimulus funding forward to multiple human clinical trials of this new stem cell technique for brain tumor survivors and stroke victims like this I found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7927004.stm
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGBYAY Anne McGinnis Breen
My personal brain tumor blog is at http//gbyay.blogspot.com
Its a pity that science-Religions & people in general cant make the effort to delve deeper.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe original word for `RELIGION' translated as `BIND BACK TO THE SOURCE.'
This was to be a constant reminder that the parables contained `truth' if the eyes & heart would see.
Religions were born out of human desparation at finding themselves enslaved to families who were among the earliest TRADERS... who...Amassed wealth, gaining elite social positions & had devised methods to ensure they didnt lose these luxuries. Fear, deprivation & violence became the popular methods for control.
As `THE PEOPLE' awakening to the reality of what had become `everday life', sought the wisdom from the elders for the handed down stories of how life once `was.' This desparate search for truth became a popular movement....Leaders fearing defeat reacted violently each time the movement regrew.
The people hid their words in parables to get around laws.
Finally leaders realised their methods were not enough deterent so they had their own people infiltrate...with orders to gain trust & create an organised movement with themselves at the top, in order to spin the learning of the people to the leaders advantage. They were told if there was any perks to be had these leaders could keep these TAX FREE.
Throughout the ages these religious leaders got cocky because they were closer to THE PEOPLE than the leaders & tried to take all by creating religious wars using the leaders violent restrictive rule as the excuse.. The story of `Christian persecution' was derived from such attempts.
Understand the basis & you clearly see nothing has changed.
Unfortunately for humans, between the official leaders & religions
the masses have not only been deprived of their true history but of how powerful we really are & what we are capable of.
Surfice to say...What one is capable of, EVERYONE is capable of. Start checking out stories of how people fall from planes & are practically unscathed. How a human has regrown bodily parts...We are now learning of how we have been deprived of realising how the body completely replaces itself & the significance of this.
How we have been brainwashed to believe we need Drs & scientists etc
I'm not suggesting that we all race about rejecting all we now live & expect to achieve great things on our own....There are thousands upon thousands of years of brainwashing we have to knowledgably eliminate from our psyche...Having said that there will always be a someone who will successfully manage to.
So the antichrist is finally showing his face.....Read the book of revelations...If you don't believe, wait, e will help in a peace deal with Isreal soon.....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe subject can become extremely torpid with so many stipulations as to what constitutes life. What pro-lifers consider life is really a blastocyst - the two to five day old embryo in the shape of a hollow ball (from which stem-cells are taken). It has no nervous system. It can't think. It's a ball of cells. Men's sperm looks more alive then a blastocyst does! At least those can swim. When a man masturbates he releases a plethora of potential cells that could turn into a fetus. Are these pro-life groups worried about us masturbating? (It wouldn't put it past me if they were). What about each egg that sheds during menstruation? What about having sex with a condom on? I mean, conception is so close you can almost hear the little semen yelling "let me out!" But let's be honest, youre really not giving life a chance with jr's raincoat on. How non pro-life of you to do that.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI can't even begin to point out all the other hypocrisies when stem-cell opponents exclaim embryos are real humans with the same entitled rights as you and me - well, unless your a gay embryo.Yet for all pragmatic purposes, there is one very ironic part to this whole issue. According to a USA Today report approximately one half-million embryos lie frozen in US fertility clinics. Frozen! So instead of using these cells to promote and expand great research to save actual lives, proponents of the ban would rather the embryos stay frozen. How non pro-life of them to do that.
These issues disclose an important fact: science has been stymied by a major impetus. That force is religion: an unscientific force that has been allowed to impede the progression of science. Why? Why in Texas was there recently a 7-7 tie as to whether creationism should be taught in schools? Why should we allow religious groups to falsely discredit and disparage factual, tangible scientific work? Just because the fossil record isn't completely intact? Because a book says the earth is at the center of the universe?
Science is in the business of understanding the beautiful complexities of life. There is no room for perversions. There is no room for putting a man on house arrest for the remainder of his life because he advocates the sun is at the center of the universe - which the Vatican did to Galileo. There is no room for putting a teacher on trial for teaching the principles of descent with modification - which is what happened to high school teacher John Scopes in 1926. And there is no room for holding scientists hostage because they want to use blastocysts to cure disease and save live
The rest of my comment can be found at mentalpestilence.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am A60YR man who was dagnosed 4 yr with parkinson,s. My condition is still under control with medication. Life begins at conseption. For every aborted fetus that means murder has been committed. The beginning of life was taught in the public school where I attended.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI will put up with the disease rather than be a beneficiary of murder. I would rather die with the disease than snuff out a life that could benefit mankind.
God's commandment "thou shall not kill"is a good reason for opposing stem research but not the only one. The potential of the unborn is another
reason. He could be another Einstein or Madam Curie etc. It is too late for
me to become another Einstein. My 2 kids are gifted with potential. That
will be my legacy.
You are very wise. A single physician, such as myself, will treat tens of thousands of patients in his/her career. Proof that one embryo, if allowed to live, walk, think, etc. has much more potential to treat human disease than a few of its cells stolen early in its life cycle, at the cost of its own life.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnless you think the Aztecs were leaders in modern medicine, intentional human being sacrifice for "research" is unnatural and idiotic. This may be proof that the class cheaters have grown up and are now in control. Microscopic cannibalism is not scientific progress.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot a religious opinion, but a biological fact: a individual human being's existence begins as a zygote, which rapidly develops into a blastocyst, embryo, fetus, etc. It doesn't stop at 150 cells and say "come and get me, I'm ready to be ripped apart for your misguided research." Please google "life cycle of a human being" and learn the facts of life.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthe1stdave. first the bible said that the antichirst will have no need of a woman, Obama is married, second that the people will not know that he is the antichrist so if you know .....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHere's my beef with anti abortion/stem cell research. You don't look at the other side of the coin. If you disagree with abortion and stem cell research you have to disagree with in vitro fertilization, which it seems hardly happens. This is because about two dozen embryos are artificially conceived, about a dozen survive that, and only two to four are selected for implanting. The remaining embryos are either frozen, donated to other couples(rare), or most commonly; flushed down the sink drain, incinerated or left to dry out and die. The arguments of "murdering" human life or that they may develop into the next Einstein is moot if they're going to be destroyed anyways.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't mean to be tactless towards the religious ones, but Obama's new policy is beneficial for everyone. Also, now that he is allowing this, American science will be able to compete with the rest of the world. It was about time. Trust me, Jesus would comply too!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't mean to be tactless towards the religious ones, but Obama's new policy is beneficial for everyone. Also, now that he is allowing this, American science will be able to compete with the rest of the world. It was about time. Trust me, Jesus would comply too!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn the book of Revelations, the Bible declares that the antichrist is of Middle Eastern Descent.... The last time I checked an individual has to be of AMERICAN descent to become president. I'm not the the smartest person in the world but I don't believe that Hawaii is in the Middle East...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is about the only thing I agree on with Obama. Stem cells research should be legalized like he has done to help create cures for these diseases and injuries that happen throughout life. Think if we find cures through this research then what other possible cures could there be for diseases. Even though people say that it is morally wrong to do this they are wrong. See if a woman has a miscarriage then the cells that the baby has go to waste and no use. But doctors could use those cells that the dead baby has and use it for research to help greater mankind. And also the cells reproduce by themselves and dont have a unlimited stem cell supply in the body but everyone dies anyways so the point is to help people for the future. If the acting director for the NIH says its good for all of us as a humanity then Ill stand behind him and believes what he says. The points is that even when people just abort babies or have miscarriages now theres no point because it doesnt help anybody it just kills a baby to be born or an already dead baby. So this will all around help people.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJTILT RUSHE.7
And now finally the funding has been cut once again.The root of this issue runs deep within the countries moral background. Science and modern medicine are wonderful things that help millions of people. . So called “pure science” and pop culture that say that science is mutually exclusive with God is wrong. Science can proceed in tandem with the spirit of God. Unfortunately for embryonic stem cell research the nation’s moral standing is currently opposed to this particular branch of medicine. The sanctity of life is a holy construct set between God and man. And admit it or not but the United States is a Christian state. In a country with Seven out of nine supreme court justices Roman Catholic over 76 percent of the country identify themselves as Christian. Non-Christian religions (including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism), collectively make up about 4% to 5% of the population. An additional 15-20 percent are Agnostic or Atheist . These figures clearly state the religious majority in the United States. In a country with so high a Christian population is it really so surprising that funding was cut for the murder of unborn children and the breaking of the Holy sanctity of Life?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this