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Obama To Reverse Bush Limits On Stem Cell Work

An anonymous reader sends this quote from the Associated Press: "Reversing an eight-year-old limit on potentially life-saving science, President Barack Obama plans to lift restrictions Monday on taxpayer-funded research using embryonic stem cells. ... Under President George W. Bush, taxpayer money for that research was limited to a small number of stem cell lines that were created before Aug. 9, 2001, lines that in many cases had some drawbacks that limited their potential usability. But hundreds more of such lines — groups of cells that can continue to propagate in lab dishes — have been created since then, ones that scientists say are healthier, better suited to creating treatments for people rather than doing basic laboratory science. Work didn't stop. Indeed, it advanced enough that this summer, the private Geron Corp. will begin the world's first study of a treatment using human embryonic stem cells, in people who recently suffered a spinal cord injury. Nor does Obama's change fund creation of new lines. But it means that scientists who until now have had to rely on private donations to work with these newer stem cell lines can apply for government money for the research, just like they do for studies of gene therapy or other treatment approaches."

3 of 508 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Proven to kill... by mrtwice99 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Indeed, and now that a reliable method of making stem cells WITHOUT KILLING has been invented.

    Yes, precisely! There are proven stem cell treatments accomplished without killing human embryos:

  2. Re:Proven to kill... by mrtwice99 · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Reversing an eight-year-old limit on potentially life-saving science..." Currently unproven to save even one life, but proven to destroy human embryos.

    To back up my post:

    After nearly ten years of research[14], there are no approved treatments or human trials using embryonic stem cells.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell#Embryonic

  3. Re:Why? by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 5, Informative

    The point of lifting the ban is to allow research on real stem cells

    The point of lifting the ban is to allow federal funding of research on real stem cells.
    The research itself was never banned, and apparently thrived on private funding.