BARACK OBAMA鈥橲 election victory is putting a smile back on the faces of American stem cell researchers. They foresee a quick end to the restrictions on their work introduced in August 2001 by President George W. Bush.
Bush used an executive order to limit federally funded researchers to working on embryonic stem cells from just a few sources. ESCs are seen as having huge potential for repairing organs and tissues. Now those restrictions are likely to be among the first of Bush鈥檚 executive orders to be swept away.
The news emerged on 9 November on Fox News with John Podesta, head of the transition team managing the White House switch-over. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we鈥檒l see the president do that,鈥� said Podesta, who was chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and founder in 2003 of the think tank.
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Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said this week that a decision to scrap the current stem cell policy had not been finalised but confirmed that all Bush鈥檚 executive orders would be reviewed.
The aim is to quickly dismantle the legacies of the Bush era that Obama judges to be holding back progress. Bush鈥檚 opposition to stem cell research has been widely seen as a concession to conservative Christians who oppose all research on embryos.
The prospect is being greeted with delight by many researchers. 鈥淗allelujah 鈥� at last,鈥� says Robert Lanza, chief scientist at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts. 鈥淭his represents the end of a sad chapter in American scientific history鈥� We鈥檝e been operating for the past decade with one hand tied behind our back.鈥�
鈥淭his will end a sad chapter in American scientific history鈥� We鈥檝e been operating with one hand tied behind our back鈥�
Biomedical scientists have also welcomed two 鈥減ro-research鈥� victories in state ballots on 4 November. Michigan voters passed by 53 to 47 per cent a proposal allowing researchers there to derive new ESC lines from embryos left over after fertility treatment. 鈥淭his outcome means that critical medical research can proceed in Michigan without political or ideological interference,鈥� says George Daley of the Children鈥檚 Hospital in Boston, a past president of the based in Deerfield, Illinois.
In Colorado, voters rejected by 73 to 27 per cent a proposal to endow newly fertilised embryos with the rights of a person. If the proposal had been approved, any researchers flouting the law to derive ESCs could have been 鈥渃harged with murder and possibly locked away for life鈥�, says Lanza.