Stem Cell Research and Public Policy

"Obama overturns Bush policy on stem cells." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Cable News Network, 9 Mar. 2009. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/09/obama.stem.cells/index.html.

What is the current state of stem cell research in the United States? This is a loaded question. We have already discussed the history and the biological mechanisms of stem cell therapy. We understand the current limitations of science and stem cell research. What have not yet been discussed are the societal and political restrictions placed on stem cell research. And these limits – not the limits of scientific knowledge and skill – are what truly determine the state of stem cell research in the United States.

In 2001, President George W. Bush signed an executive order banning the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from providing federal funding of embryonic stem cell research beyond using the sixty or so cell lines that already existed at the time. Researchers could continue research on any stem cell lines they wanted – provided none of the supplies they purchased, including equipment, lab space, and salaries for employees, were paid for with federal grants or tax dollars. This March, however, President Barack Obama signed an executive order reversing Bush’s decision. Obama’s policies promised to make it easier for federally funded researchers to acquire new stem cell lines.

Unfortunately, since this executive order, not much has happened. This article was “big news” for about a day, but the press moved on. The president has evidently moved on, as well. For all the media’s focus on current healthcare debates, stem cells have been woefully ignored. Obama’s main domestic focus right now is the fight for universal healthcare; he has let stem cell research fall by the wayside. It is a shame. Stem cell therapy has so much promise; many diseases and injuries could potentially be cured using stem cell therapy, including Alzheimer’s disease and spinal-cord injuries. Millions, if not billions, of dollars in hospitalizations and healthcare-related expenditures could be saved every year. With the ability to quickly and permanently cure so many diseases, hospital admissions would drastically drop, and the length of hospital stays would decrease. This would save insurers, taxpayers, and the government millions of dollars. There would be more money available to spend on the fight to make universal healthcare a reality. If that’s not an incentive for Obama to focus more effort on improving opportunities for stem cell research, what is?

- Annie Bonaccorso