Barack Obama is poised to sign an executive order on Monday lifting restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. The move comes almost eight years after George W. Bush, the former president, imposed strict limits that critics said hindered medical research and hurt US science.
Stem cell research is fiercely opposed by some religious groups because it involves the destruction of human embryos. But scientists and health activists argue it could reveal treatments for conditions ranging from diabetes to Parkinson’s disease. Under Mr. Bush’s restrictions, funding was allowed only for a relatively small number of existing cell lines to prevent taxpayer money being used to destroy additional embryos.
The announcement marks the latest in a series of early steps by the president to roll back his predecessor’s legacy. Some science advocates had grown nervous about why the stem cell research ban was not overturned in the first wave of announcements but the White House issued assurances that it was coming soon. Mr. Obama has already thrilled the science community by appointing Steven Chu, a Nobel prize-winning physicist, as energy secretary, and reversing the Bush administration’s skeptical attitude towards climate change.
However, the stem cell ruling threatens to alienate evangelical Christians at a time when Mr. Obama is facing mounting partisan opposition from the right.
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