Obama overturns Bush's stem cell ban
Reversal creates new research opportunities
This is the first of a two-part series examining President Obama's new policy on embryonic stem cell research. In the next issue, the News-Letter will explore the impact of the policy change on scientific research at Hopkins.
President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Monday that lifted restrictions imposed on embryonic stem cell research during the Bush administration.
The executive order was motivated by concerns that preventing this type of research means delaying the discovery of treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes, as well as traumatic spinal cord injuries.
"Advances over the past decade in this promising scientific field have been encouraging, leading to broad agreement in the scientific community that the research should be supported by federal funds," Obama wrote in his executive order.
In 1998 James A. Thomson of University of Wisonsin-Madison, published a groundbreaking article, "Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Derived from Human Blastocysts," in Science Magazine about his success deriving human embryonic stem cells. This led to three years of open research on the topic.
On Aug. 9, 2001, former President George W. Bush signed an executive order stating that only research on stem cell lines (lineages of stem cells originating from a single embryo) derived prior to 9 p.m. of that day would be eligible to receive federal funding. At that time, 71 stem cell lines were determined to meet these criteria, although scientists have stated that the actual number of usable lines was far lower.
Bush's executive order did not forbid privately funded stem cell research. Nevertheless, the U.S. federal government, mainly through the National Institutes of Health, is the main source of funding for most biomedical research in this country. According to scientists and patient advocates, the loss of federal support has been devastating for embryonic stem cell research, which fell behind as researchers in other countries have made outstanding progress.
President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Monday that lifted restrictions imposed on embryonic stem cell research during the Bush administration.
The executive order was motivated by concerns that preventing this type of research means delaying the discovery of treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes, as well as traumatic spinal cord injuries.
"Advances over the past decade in this promising scientific field have been encouraging, leading to broad agreement in the scientific community that the research should be supported by federal funds," Obama wrote in his executive order.
In 1998 James A. Thomson of University of Wisonsin-Madison, published a groundbreaking article, "Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Derived from Human Blastocysts," in Science Magazine about his success deriving human embryonic stem cells. This led to three years of open research on the topic.
On Aug. 9, 2001, former President George W. Bush signed an executive order stating that only research on stem cell lines (lineages of stem cells originating from a single embryo) derived prior to 9 p.m. of that day would be eligible to receive federal funding. At that time, 71 stem cell lines were determined to meet these criteria, although scientists have stated that the actual number of usable lines was far lower.
Bush's executive order did not forbid privately funded stem cell research. Nevertheless, the U.S. federal government, mainly through the National Institutes of Health, is the main source of funding for most biomedical research in this country. According to scientists and patient advocates, the loss of federal support has been devastating for embryonic stem cell research, which fell behind as researchers in other countries have made outstanding progress.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
phyl247
posted 3/13/09 @ 3:01 AM EST
There are 100's of scientific studies that have been done on AFA and our product StemEnhance. There are also 100's of scientific papers on Adult Stem Cell therapy. (Continued…)
phyl franklin
phyl247
posted 3/13/09 @ 3:04 AM EST
There are 100's of scientific studies that have been done on AFA and our product StemEnhance. There are also 100's of scientific papers on Adult Stem Cell therapy. (Continued…)
Maryland Movers
posted 3/20/09 @ 10:56 AM EST
This is a good step for Obama to have taken. Bush's restrictions on stem cell research have hindered the progress of our medical research and has caused us to fall behind the medical advancements of other countries. (Continued…)
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