Obama reverses Bush limits on stem cell research

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama Monday lifted his predecessor George W Bush’s curbs on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, promising a “new frontier” for US science free of political ideology.The Democratic president signed an executive order reversing a policy that critics say has hampered the fight into finding treatments for grave diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes.Warning that scientists were deserting the United States for other nations, Obama said “medical miracles” come about only through painstaking research and rejected the “false choice” between sound science and moral values.“When government fails to make these investments, opportunities are missed. Promising avenues go unexplored,” he said at the White House, lauding the potential to help victims of debilitating illnesses and catastrophic injury.“Ultimately, I cannot guarantee that we will find the treatments and cures we seek. No president can promise that,” Obama said.“But I can promise that we will seek them — actively, responsibly, and with the urgency required to make up for lost ground,” he said, paying tribute to advocates of the research such as late Superman actor Christopher Reeve.“Not just by opening up this new frontier of research today, but by supporting promising research of all kinds, including groundbreaking work to convert ordinary human cells into ones that resemble embryonic stem cells.” Obama directed the National Institutes of Health to formulate guidelines within 120 days on how to proceed with federal research on lines of stem cells procured from private laboratories such as fertility clinics.His order cannot affect a congressional ban on federal money being used directly to create new stem cells, which are primitive cells from early-stage embryos capable of developing into almost every tissue of the body.Addressing an audience of US lawmakers, scientists including three Nobel laureates and religious leaders, Obama also issued a presidential memorandum “restoring scientific integrity to government decision making.” The memorandum marked another break from claims that Bush intervened for partisan political reasons in federal science in areas such as climate change, endangered species and family planning.