Expanding the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research
On March 9, President Barack Obama announced and signed an order to overturn President Bush's limits on the funding of embryonic stem cell lines. President Bush had previously limited federal spending on
Expanding the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research
On March 9, President Barack Obama announced and signed an order to overturn President Bush's limits on the funding of embryonic stem cell lines. President Bush had previously limited federal spending on embryonic stem cell research to embryonic stem cell lines created before August of 2001. In his orders, President Obama will give the National Institutes of Health time to develop guidelines to decide which kinds of research they will fund and what restrictions there will be. It is likely that, at bare minimum, the NIH will fund research on embryonic stem cell lines created from human embryos who were originally created for in-vitro fertilization. Some scientists desire that embryonic stem cell lines created from human embryos who were created for research also receive funding.
During his announcement, President Obama took no position on the Dickey Amendment. This amendment has prevented federal funds from going toward research into the creation of human embryos and the killing of human embryos since 1996. Some members of Congress have talked openly about attempting to repeal this amendment by removing it from appropriations bills.
President Obama also said that "human cloning for reproduction" is "dangerous, profoundly wrong and has no place in our society, or any society." What President Obama didn't mention was that he signed on as a co-sponsor to S.B. 1520, the euphemistically entitled "Human Cloning Ban Act of 2005" which would have kept human cloning legal and only banned the implantation of human clones by deceptively defining "human cloning" as "implanting or attempting to implant the product of nuclear transplantation into a uterus or the functional equivalent of a uterus." Products of nuclear transplantation is a scientific term for clones.
To send comments to President Obama, please use the form at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Call the comments line: 202-456-1111
Or, write to:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Junking conscience protections
On March 6, President Obama's administration moved to completely rescind a rule entitled, "Ensuring That Department of Health and Human Services Funds Do No