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President Barack Obama’s decision to lift restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research on Monday will either “bail out for the morally bankrupt” or is “public policy at its best,” depending on the viewpoint of a given Colorado leader.  

Obama’s resolution to overturn former President George W. Bush’s policy of limiting the use of federal money to make human stem cells, as well as the tightened restrictions that included any kind of work using such cells, owed a lot to Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo. Along with Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del., DeGette was a chief architect of crafting legislation to expand stem cell research. 

Positive reaction

“This executive order is long overdue and will finally bring hope to millions of patients and their families,” said a statement from DeGette. “For over eight years, progress on embryonic stem cell research has been stymied due to stubborn politicians who put politics over science. Researchers and scientists can now begin to unlock the cures for thousands of life-threatening diseases with potential life-saving techniques.”

And Gov. Bill Ritter also praised Obama’s decision, as well as DeGette’s efforts.

“Innovation, research and scientific study are the hallmarks of American ingenuity, and President Obama’s executive order is a call to action that will create hope for millions of people,” Ritter said in a statement. “Congratulations to Rep. DeGette for her leadership and tenacity on this issue. Her patience and her unwavering persistence will help allow the scientific community to move forward with research to cure diseases and save lives. This is public policy at its best.”

Negative reaction

Colorado pro-life proponents did not share DeGette’s enthusiasm, including Colorado’s Focus on the Family. 

“The latest government bailout was announced (yesterday) as President Obama will now attempt to bail out the morally bankrupt and failing industry of destructive embryonic stem cell research,” said a statement from Carrie Gordon Earll, senior bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action.

Earll also said that embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) isn’t as promising for curing diseases as proponents make it out to be.   

“Everyone wants cures and treatments for patients,” Earll said. “But patients deserve the very best investment of our tax dollars, and embryonic stem cell research doesn’t make the grade. To date — and after years and millions of dollars in research — no patient has been successfully treated with human embryonic stem cells.” 

Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, went further than Focus On The Family in his condemnation of expanding stem cell research. The lawmaker said that coupled with Obama’s overturning of the previous administration’s ban on funding groups that perform abortions overseas, yesterday’s development makes it seem like the new president is “on a vendetta against pro-life citizens.”

“I think Obama is trying to overturn anything that has any traditional moral value associated with it,” he said.

‘Strict guidelines’

Aides said Obama would not dictate details about how stem cell research should be overseen, but would give the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 120 days to come up with guidelines.

“We will never undertake this research lightly,” Obama said. “We will develop strict guidelines, which we will rigorously enforce, because we cannot ever tolerate misuse or abuse.”

Obama also signed a presidential memorandum directing the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a strategy for “restoring scientific integrity to government decision making.”

The NIH will take into consideration guidelines from the National Academy of Sciences and the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said Dr. Harold Varmus, a former NIH director who is also president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and an adviser to Obama.

Kansas Senator Sam Brownback issued a statement of dissent: “If an embryo is a life, and I believe strongly that it is life, then no government has the right to sanction their destruction for research purposes.”

He argued that other sources of stem cells that do not come from human embryos offer as much promise.

Stem cell experts agree that all types of stem cells should be developed, but it is not clear which offer the best route to a new type of therapy called regenerative medicine, in which it is hoped doctors can replace brain cells destroyed by Alzheimer’s disease, reverse genetic defects such as cystic fibrosis, and regrow severed spinal cords.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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