US scientists relieved as Obama lifts ban on stem cell research

Scientists yesterday welcomed a new executive order signed by President Barack Obama ending the nearly eight-year-old ban on federal funding for most stem cell research, saying it ushered in a new era of possibility.

"It is a relief to know that we can now collaborate openly and freely with other scientists in our own university and elsewhere, without restrictions on what equipment, data, or ideas can be shared," Harvard University's stem cell institute co-director Doug Melton said in a statement.

Melton will apply for federal grants to research ways to turn stem cells into heart cells and neurons that could one day yield a cure for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. "Science thrives when there is an open and collaborative exchange, not when there are artificial barriers, silos, constructed by the government," he added.

Obama's repeal of George Bush's August 2001 ban on federal funding for stem cell research will also have dramatic practical effects, according to Harvard spokesman BD Colen. "This will mean the end of the quite onerous bookkeeping and segregation of supplies, equipment and people that were necessary under the Bush executive order," he said. "Literally, you could not pick up a pencil off a bench if you were working with embryonic stem cells."

In signing the executive order, Obama said: "When it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced into what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values. In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent.

"As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research - and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly."

Obama paid tribute to the late actor Christopher Reeve, who emerged as an advocate for embryonic stem cell research after he was paralysed in a horseriding accident.

He said Reeve dreamed of being able to walk again, adding: "Christopher did not get that chance. But if we pursue this research, maybe one day - maybe not in our lifetime, or even in our children's lifetime - but maybe one day, others like him might."

But the research raises ethical questions, because it uses human embryos - typically conceived in the lab - which are destroyed so that stem cells may be harvested. Critics say it creates human life only to end it.

In a bid to mollify critics, Obama said: "We will never undertake this research lightly. We will develop strict guidelines, which we will rigorously enforce, because we cannot ever tolerate misuse or abuse."

The research is allowed in Britain, which in the years since Bush's restrictions, has become a world centre of stem cell study. Since the ban, US research has been sustained by private funds that have declined with the economic downturn. The fiscal stimulus bill passed by Congress last month includes $8.2bn for the National Institutes of Health research centres.