Obama Moves Stem Cell Research in a New Direction

The Bush-era rules set aside by Obama had limited federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells to those "lines" that had been created prior to the announcement of the rules. The number of those stem cell lines turned out to be rather few, and they had been created using procedures that made them not that useful for certain kinds of research. Scientists who did research on other embryonic stem cells - that is, cells not derived from the federally approved lines - had to make sure that such research was completely isolated from anything involving federally funded research, so as not to jeopardize their federal funding. For example, some researchers who rely on a combination of federal and private funding were forced to maintain separate lab areas for research using stem cell lines produced before and after Bush's order.

Stem cell researchers had chafed under the rules imposed by the previous administration, and argued that they were both delaying the discoveries needed to produce new cures and also opening the way for other countries to grab the lead from the United States in a key field. The new policy was consequently warmly welcomed by the researchers, if for no other reason than that it would relieve them of some of the expensive and time-consuming administrative chores involved in making sure that their research would not violate the old rules. Nevertheless, it was not clear that the step would unleash a flood of new research efforts. While the new executive order overturned the previous one by Bush, it did not address legislative rules. For instance, scientists are still prohibited by law from creating embryonic stem cell lines using federal money.

Also, the Bush-era curbs had had the effect of steering stem cell research in new directions, such as reprogramming non-embryonic cells to gain the versatility once associated only with embryonic stem cells. Major advances had been made in these so-called iPS (for induced pluripotent stem) cells, and some researchers believe that their therapeutic promise is much greater than that of embryonic stem cells (because, in principle, iPS cells can be cultured directly from an individual suffering from a disease, and thus the resultant cells should not face rejection problems that might be encountered if the cells came from another individual). Nevertheless, many researchers believe that it is essential to proceed with investigations of embryonic stem cells, since they are seen as in some sense representing the "gold standard" of pluripotency, and it's thought that they may afford insights not attainable, or attainable only with difficulty, with other sorts of stem cells.

The purpose of Obama's action, as stated in the executive order, was to remove the limitations imposed by Bush on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and "to expand NIH support for the exploration of human stem cell research, and in so doing to enhance the contribution of America's scientists to important new discoveries and new therapies for the benefit of humankind." The Secretary of the was directed to review existing guidelines on human stem cell research and issue new guidelines within 120 days.

Sources

Hayden, Erika Check. "Obama Overturns Stem-Cell Ban." NatureNews (March 9, 2009) http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090427/full/news.2009.403.html

Holden, Constance. "A First Step in Relaxing Restrictions on Stem Cell Research." Science, March 13, 2009, pages 1412-1413.