Archive for Tag “stem cells”

Obama frees stem cell research from Bush-era ban

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 by Keith Lockitch

President Obama has finally done something good! On Monday, he signed an executive order rescinding the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. The order reverses a policy imposed by President Bush in 2001, forbidding scientists receiving federal research funds from creating and studying new lines of embryonic stem cells.

The Bush ban was driven by religious opposition to this crucial area of medical research, and has been a major obstacle to progress toward cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Bush even used his first presidential veto a few years ago to block Congress from removing his funding restrictions. Obama’s decision defangs this faith-based assault on science.

Now just to be perfectly clear, I am not praising the use of federal tax dollars to fund scientific research. (I think all research should be privately funded.) What I’m praising is the fact that this crucial area of research will no longer be hampered by state-enforced religious dogmas. As Yaron Brook said at the time of the Bush veto:

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