Human stem cells

La Stampa, Italy

Obama and Stem Cells: A Challenge to Europe

"For Europe, where stem cell research is taboo and the confrontation between secularism and religion remains ideologically entrenched, the language and policies of Obama pose a challenge that will be hard to avoid, both in terms of values and the marketplace."

By Maurizio Molinari

Translated By Enrico Del Sero

March 10, 2009

Italy - La Stampa - Original Article (Italian)

With his decision to abolish the limits on public funding for stem cell research, Barack Obama intends to make science an engine of economic recovery, emphasizes his opposition to political limits on research and confirms his religious faith in a "common good" that goes beyond all dogma.

The link between science and economy were reflected on the faces of those who surrounded the American President at the White House as he signed the executive order on scientific integrity: molecular biologist, Dr. Peter Agre, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Dr. Patricia Bath, inventor of a method of laser therapy for removing cataracts; Dr. Robert Horowitz, a biologist at the forefront of brain research; Dr. Janet Rowley, a geneticist who first identified a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia; and Harold Varmus, winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine.

These five names reflect America's "capacity to invent what we cannot imagine," and on whom Obama bets will transform science into a vector for investment, prosperity and jobs, by identifying areas in research that will bring remedies to incurable diseases and advance the frontiers of human knowledge - just as John F. Kennedy did when he bet on the race to the Moon. If George W. Bush’s 2001 decision to limit federal funding to a few then-existing stem cells lines led many U.S. scientists and researchers to quickly move to Great Britain, the Obama turnabout began today, when the Times of London warned of a "damaging brain drain of scientists to the U.S." This is a very good snapshot of the impending period of close competition among major laboratories of these Anglo-Saxon nations as they engage in a race to extend human life.

Surrounded by some of America's leading scientists,

President Barack Obama signs the executive order

increasing the level of funding for stem-cell research.

For a president besieged by recession, markets that are plummeting and secretaries besieged by criticism from economists and satirical talk shows, playing the science card to promote recovery permits some breathing space and the shoring up of relations with the general public.

It is also for this purpose that Obama attached a larger purpose to his move on stem cells. In order to emphasize the distance between himself and the decisions of his predecessor - who is accused of imposing his ideological and religious beliefs on the need to develop knowledge -Obama said, "Promoting science isn't just about providing resources - it's also about protecting free and open inquiry … It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda."

The contrast between pragmatism and ideology is the idea that enabled Obama to win the election and on which he is now relying to emphasize the need for abandoning the intense conflicts between left and right, progressive and conservative, secular and religious - which were inherited from the 1960s and held center stage during the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush’s, both of whom belonged to the "baby-boomer" generation.

To prevent an ideological divide Obama justified his decision with the words of a believer: "As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research - and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly."   

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

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La Stampa, Italy: Obama and Stem Cells - A Challenge to Europe

Guardian Unlimited, U.K.: Stem Cells - Welcome Back to the 21st Century, America

El Pais, Spain: Stem Cells and Health Care: America's 'Greatest Revolution'

Obama’s faith isn’t about dogma, whatever Church or religion they belong to, but the commitment to pursue the "common good," a goal which he recognizes both in the teaching of Abraham Lincoln, who didn’t seek revenge against soldiers of the South once they were defeated, and the words of St. Augustine, who said "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." This idea of "working for others" is at the heart of the faith of this president, who describes Americans as, "my brother's and sister's keepers," who supports abortion but condemns its abuse and who aims to "defeat poverty," referring to the original message of Jesus.

For Europe, where stem cell research is taboo and the confrontation between secularism and religion remains ideologically entrenched, the language and policies of Obama pose a challenge that will be hard to avoid, both in terms of values and the marketplace.

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US March 11, 9:39pm]