by Lori Andrews

On Monday, President Obama gave the green light for federal funding of embryo stem cell research. Stem cell research provides potential new treatments. Embryonic cells can develop into all the types of cells in the body. In the future, doctors might be able to repair damaged hearts by inserting new heart cells or help people walk with the use of embryonically-derived nerve cells.

Prior to Obama's actions, the existing Bush position reflected a pro-life religious belief that an eight-cell embryo is a person and stem cell research, which of necessity destroys the embryo, is murder. In August 2001, Bush addressed the nation and said that he would only allow federal funding for research on existing embryonic cell lines. Bush did not want to be a party to the termination of any further embryos, but he would allow research on cell lines where the embryos had been terminated in the past.

Bush's approach was consistent with certain religious beliefs, but did not reflect good science or good policy. There are only about 21 such cell lines, most of which had been created from excess embryos of white couples who underwent in vitro fertilization. Not all racial and ethnic groups were represented, so the therapies that could be created might not work for certain groups. The cell lines are just not diverse enough.

Plus, some of the existing cell lines were created in a way that violated ethical norms. The couples whose embryos were used generally had not been asked for permission to use the embryos for stem cell research–nor were they told that their embryos might be used to create commercial treatments that could be marketed by a biotech company. Some couples might have had objections to the commodification of their embryos' cells.

Obama's executive order allows scientists to create new embryonic stem cell lines, even though the process terminates the embryos. He has made his announcement now so that embryo stem cell proposals can be submitted to the National Institutes of Health which has been given an extra $10.4 billion in the economic stimulus package.

The president of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation heralded the decision as "removing politics from science." But this is not the case. Obama's decision is an important step toward removing religion from science and removing religion from politics, but it does not–nor should it–remove politics from science.

The decision to fund embryo stem cell research with taxpayer money is itself a political one. In fact, it raises a variety of political questions: Why should federally-funded researchers at universities be able to use citizens' money to develop lucrative stem cell treatments and then form biotech companies to market those cell lines back to us at exorbitant prices? If my tax dollars have been used to create a stem cell treatment, why can't I act as a stockholder in the resulting company?

And what about the people whose embryos are used? What are their political rights? Should a couple's excess in vitro embryos be used for research without them being told that the research involves the creation of stem cells? Should they specifically be asked if they are willing to have their embryo's cells used for the creation of a commercial product? Should women be paid for eggs used to create embryos for research purposes? And what regulation of doctors should be in place so that they don't use excessive fertility drugs on patients just to create extra embryos for stem cell research?

President Obama's executive order is not the last word in the embryo stem cell debate. He has removed religion from the equation, but a variety of policy questions exist so that the research can proceed in a way that makes ethical and economic sense.