Monday, March 9, 2009

Obama ends stem cell funding ban

In a move sure to stir passion among religious conservatives, Obama lifted the restrictions on stem cell funding by the Federal Government. Ex-President Bush issued a compromise order allowing stem cell research on existing lines, but not if new embryos were to be destroyed. He blocked the use of any government money to fund research on human embryonic stem cell lines created after 9 August 2001. He was criticized by both supporters and opponents for that decision. President Obama has removed the funding roadblock for stem cells extracted from recently destroyed embryos. Many religious conservatives believe human life begins at conception.

Here is the video of Obama's announcement.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great decision by Mr. Obama. The stem cell research is a needed topic to be continued. Eventually it can save millions of lives annually. The critics need to realize that and stop looking at everything from the religious side. If we always assumed that medicine and research is just playing god wed never have any surgeries, transplantations, chemotherapy, etc. This is an amazing day for scientist and they need to take the opportunity of the new funding and bring the world a new way of dealing with incurable diseases.

Take care, Julie