Obama Liberates Stem Cells

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright March 9, 2009
All Rights Reserved.                    

          President Barack Obama reversed former President George W. Bush’s 2001 executive order restricting stem cell research to the original 21 lines.  Bush rubber stamped views of religious conservatives believing stem cell research violated the sanctity of human life by using discarded embryos from abortion or fertility clinics.  Bush’s 2001 ban crossed the line between church and state, allowing religion to interfere with scientific research.  “Our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values,” said Barack, signing an executive order taking the shackles off stem cell researchers.  In his right-to-life zealotry, Bush defied former First Lady Nancy Reagan, whose husband, the late President Ronald Reagan, died of Alzheimer’s disease, a deadly neurological condition potentially helped by embryonic stem cells.

            Bush ignored the cries of families begging for help with loved ones stricken with neurological and neuromuscular diseases—including spinal cord injuries—that could have benefited by unrestricted stem cell research.  “It is about enduring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda—and that we make scientific decisions based on fact, not ideology,” said Barack, firing a shot at the same religious conservatives now opposing his budget and economic recovery plan. With the latest CNN poll showing a 72% approval rating, Obama expects to get a bounce finally rectifying Bush’s unpopular stem cell ban.  Religious conservatives continue link stem cell research to moral degeneracy, frequently mixing up stem cell research with human cloning, something conjuring up macabre images of Frankenstein-like artificial creating human life.

            Obama scores more political points liberating stem cells from religious conservatives than focusing the bad news on the economy.  Today’s gloomy comments by New York University economics professor Nouriel Rubini and billionaire investor Warren Buffet about the current recession offer Barack little to cheer about.  Rescinding Bush’s stem cell ban injects something positive into an otherwise bleak news cycle.  “The action by the president today will, in effect, allow scientists to create their own guidelines without proper restraints,” said Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council.  Perkins likes to rant about embryonic stem cells while, simultaneously, ignoring advances in advanced reproductive technology, i.e., in vitro fertilization, enabling infertile religious conservatives to get pregnant.  No one complains when they need state-of-the-art medicine.

             Creating new stem cell lines should help open the door for eventual treatments ranging from diabetes to paralysis.  Bush passed moral judgment asking “fundamental questions about the beginnings of life and the ends of science,” restricting federal funding to 21 original lines of stem cells before 2001.  Hosting scientists at the White House, Barack capitalized on a new public attitude, getting government off the backs of the scientific community.  Conservative groups like Perkin’s Family Research Council are sadly out of touch with mainstream voters, supporting embryonic stem cell research. Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia) claims Obama’s executive order will “force taxpayers to subsidize research that will destroy human embryos,” stating the right-to-life argument.  Religious conservatives frequently transpose “right-to-life” or antiabortion issues on stem cell research.

            Obama’s new policy erases Bush’s insistence that religious conservatives and their friends in the medical ethic’s world dictate the parameters of science.  “I think patients everywhere will be cheering us on, imploring us to work faster, harder and with all our ability to find new treatments,” said Harvard Stem Cell Institute co-director Doug Melton, father of two girls with Type I diabetes.  Opponents also cite the lack of results from stem cell research as raising false hopes and wasting tax dollars on improbable medical treatments.  Whether that’s true or not, Obama is right that the government shouldn’t decide the merits of any area of science.  Researchers must subject their findings to the rigors of scientific proof to determine, once and for all, whether or not stem cell research holds hope for the future.  Bush’s order delayed the outcome by a good eight years.

              Scoring some big political points, Obama set the record straight about the proper role of government in scientific research.  Supporting science “is about letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell use, even when it’s inconvenient—especially when its inconvenient,” said Obama, a veiled reference to global warming skeptics and former Vice President Al Gore’s book “An Inconvenient Truth.”  Addressing his critics, Barack agreed that stem cell research “never opens the door to the use of cloning for human reproduction,” signaling he would accept cloning for research purposes.  More vocal objections from religious conservatives only damage their chances of recouping losses when Midterm elections roll around in 2010.  Obama’s new executive order is welcomed news to the scientific community..

.John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analysing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.