Promoting useful science

Appeals court should make permanent a ruling favoring stem cell research

Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010

Embryonic stem cell research, which holds vast potential to find the cures for diseases that have baffled scientists for decades, appeared to have gained momentum last year when President Barack Obama signed an executive order making it eligible for federal funding. The order reversed the policy of his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who had limited the funding to 21 existing cell lines and vetoed legislation to extend the research.

Obama did the right thing because the number of human frailties that can be addressed through such research is substantial. The list includes cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, spinal cord injury, diabetes, stroke, muscular dystrophy, heart ailments, blindness, deafness and learning disorders.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/14/promoting-useful-science/