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Now that there is new rein in the presidential office, researchers and scientists are in extreme keenness, in which that President Barack Obama will vote in favor and support the senate bill that allows federal funding for stem cell research. This already introduced bill was passed by both houses of congress when under the administration of former president George W. Bush. The bill will promote federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. When under the Bush administration, only 21 stem cell lines were eligible for funding, and now hundreds will be accessible for federal funding.

Embryonic stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have been quarantined in early stages of growth. These cells have the ability and aptitude to be specialized into almost any function within the body and reproduce in large amounts.

Yes, the controversial debate arises of ethics, but now there are also other ways to collect these embryonic stem cells. For example, Dr. Gregg Poquette explains a way which is becoming increasingly popular. “Typically, couples donate excess embryos from fertility procedures to researchers. Researchers pull the 150 or so cells from inside one of these roughly 6-day-old embryos, destroying it, and grow the cells in a lab.”

In 2006, when former president Bush vetoed the bill, he quoted “taking of innocent human life of the hope of finding medical benefits for others,” in his defense that the bill was too ethically controversial. Bush took the side of religious groups, such as the Catholic Bishops.
Trying to fight against the federal funding, the National Right to Life Committee is arguing that it “opens door to human embryo farms…” and will add even more costs to harvesting cell lines. Rep. Joe Pitts, exaggerated his concerns for the current declining economy, and has called the additional costs “divisive.”

As did former President Bush, President Obama has placed restrictions on stem cell lines for receiving federal funding. But Obama’s limits aren’t as strict as Bush’s; Bush’s limitations only allowed 21 lines to pass. Obama is calling for “appropriate safeguards, [allowing research] only when it is both scientifically worthy and responsibly conducted. We will develop strict guidelines, which we will rigorously enforce, because we cannot ever tolerate misuse or abuse." The National Institution of Health will facilitate guidelines that will not allow inappropriate compensation of embryo donors or informed consent.

In 1996, a law was passed that impedes federal funding of “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed.” Some religious groups have taken on the argument in which that this law makes the research funding illegal. With this law, multiple presidents and major political leaders have interpreted this law to mean that federal funding could be used on the pre-existing stem cell lines. Although the bipartisan stem cell research bill is being voted on again (vetoed twice by Bush in both 2006 and 2007). The bills intent would be to flout the 1996 law.