Obama sets stem-cell researchers free!

Obama sets stem-cell researchers free!

On March 9, President Obama revoked the limits on funding research with embryonic stem cells, telling a White House audience that U.S. scientists can now apply for funding to investigate many types of embryonic stem (ES) cells, not just the few varieties permitted under the 2001 policy imposed by former President Bush.
Although ES cells have not produced any cures to date, in January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first human trial of embryonic stem cells for treating spinal cord injury.
As expected, Obama’s edict evoked enthusiasm. “It’s magic,” responded Alan Trounson, president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a state body that is spending $3 billion on ES cells and other stem cells. “It’s been difficult to explain to people in this country, and all over the world, why the U.S. was not really part of the whole stem-cell revolution. Patient treatments have been set back as a result of this delay.”
“I would say we have now left the dark ages in stem cell research, and entered the Renaissance,” says transplant surgeon Jon Odorico of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who uses stem cells to explore treatments for diabetes. “Think about the analogy — scientists struggled with church control. There are many parallels” with the recent experience on stem cells, he adds.
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