What did President Obama’s executive order do?
Obama’s order overturned President Bush’s stem cell limits, which had prohibited federal funds from being used for conducting research on embryonic stem cell lines created after Aug. 9, 2001 (the date of Bush’s announcement). Obama’s order allows taxpayer dollars to be used for funding research on hundreds of other embryonic stem cell lines. Technically, under Obama’s order researchers won’t be allowed to use federal funds to destroy embryos. (A Congressional amendment known as the Dickey-Wicker Amendment prevents federally funding the destruction of embryos.) Researchers will, though, be able to conduct federally funded research on stem cells that were taken from embryos destroyed in the private sector. Critics say Obama’s order — while not directly funding it — will encourage the destruction of more embryos.
