USA Today (3/9, Vergano) reports, "Obama will sign an executive order...lifting limits on human embryonic stem cell research and will direct federal agencies to 'restore scientific integrity' to decision-making, White House aides said Sunday." ABC and NBC reported the story last night, while CBS ran a very brief newscast due to sports coverage. ABC World News (3/8, story 6, 2:10, Harris) said that with his announcement, Obama would "fulfill one of his campaign promises," and that "could lead to better treatments and possibly cures for many diseases," even if "it will not end a visceral debate." ABC (Stark) added that "embryonic stem cells can develop into any cell in the body. Researchers believe they may produce the next revolution in medicine, including treatments for conditions such as spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's. The cells come from discarded human embryos, which are destroyed in the process." NBC Nightly News (3/8, lead story, 3:15, Yang) similarly reported that Obama was making "good on another campaign promise," and added that "researchers say stem cells may hold the key to curing such diseases as Alzheimer's, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, but because they're extracted from embryos, social conservatives say it's destroying human life."
The AP (3/9, Elliott) reports that Obama's announcement Monday "will include a broad declaration that science -- not political ideology -- would guide his administration."
The Washington Post (3/9, A2, Stein) reports Melody C. Barnes, "director of Obama's Domestic Policy Council, told reporters during a telephone briefing" yesterday, "The President believes that it's particularly important to sign this memorandum so that we can put science and technology back at the heart of pursuing a broad range of national goals." The Post adds that "although officials would not go into details, the memorandum will order the Office of Science and Technology Policy to 'assure a number of effective standards and practices that will help our society feel that we have the highest-quality individuals carrying out scientific jobs and that information is shared with the public,' said Harold Varmus, who co-chairs Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology." Added Varmus, "We view what happened with stem cell research in the last administration as one manifestation of failure to think carefully about how federal support of science and the use of scientific advice occurs."
According to the Wall Street Journal (3/9, A4, Winslow, Naik), one "concern is how much NIH funding will actually be targeted to embryonic-stem-cell research, at least in the near term. For instance, an NIH grant initiative announced last week to jump-start certain key areas of research includes only a handful of areas that relate specifically to human embryonic stem cells." Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, who heads stem-cell research at the University of California at San Francisco, said, "At first blush it doesn't look like there's going to be an opening of the floodgates." Dr. Kriegstein "acknowledged that the NIH could quickly reorder its priorities in response to the new policy," and "Irving Weissman, director of Stanford University's Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., said the new Obama policy will likely enable other NIH stimulus funds to be available to support labs and other infrastructure for embryonic-stem-cell research. That will be important to enable academic researchers to move promising discoveries from the lab into initial clinical trials."
Bloomberg News (3/9, Waters, Runningen) reports the NIH "will have 120 days to develop new rules on stem cells, the White House said. Officials of the NIH have said they can prepare the guidelines more quickly than that." Meanwhile, "the Vatican's newspaper deplored Obama's reversal, repeating Catholic doctrine that such research in the eyes of the church is 'deeply immoral.'"
The Politico (3/9, Brown) reports "Monday's announcement means" the President "will instead supplant Bush's executive order with one of his own -- a move that will please many of Obama's supporters who were pushing him to make the change." AFP (3/9, Beatty) says the move is "already delighting scientists and vexing conservatives."
The Washington Times (3/9, Lobianco), The Hill (3/9, O'Brien), the ABC World News (3/6, story 7, 2:05, Gibson), the CBS Evening News (3/6, story 4, 2:10, Couric), the NBC Nightly News (3/6, story 5, 0:25, Williams), the AP (3/6, Feller, Neergaard), the Washington Post (3/7, A1, Stein), the New York Times (3/7, A1, Stout, Harris), The Politico (3/6, Brown), the Wall Street Journal (3/7, A4, Meckler) added, Bloomberg News (3/7, Waters), CQ (3/6, Bettelheim). the Chicago Tribune (3/7, Kaplan, Levey), the Washington Times (3/7, Ward), the Financial Times (3/7, Ward), BBC News (3/9), and The Hill (3/6, Young) also covered Monday's signing.
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