Today President Obama sided with science and not personal morality in his decision to overturn an order signed by President Bush in 2001 that barred government funding research on embryonic stem cells. Scientists believe this type of research could assist in curing diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, type two diabetes and help those who have spinal chord injuries.
I applaud this decision and agree with the majority of the country on the subject matter - 60 percent of the general public believe in funding this type of research. Once again, politics stood in the way with important funding for research that could potentially help millions of people suffering from terrible diseases.
Scientists across the world have been working on this type of research since early 2000 without any problems with funding. Apparently they recognize this as a science issue and not a morality one - they realized government shouldn't be asking "what would Jesus do?"
This afternoon a politician from New Jersey called a press conference to take the other side of this issue. After he spoke he invited a woman who had two children using left over embryos from an In vitro fertilisation procedure. She brought her two kids and basically asserted she wouldn't have been able to have them without the embryos. She believes that life starts once the egg is penetrated by sperm creating the embryo - 35 percent of the country feel the same way.
I'm excited to live in a time in our country's history when our government is setting aside moral issues and adhering to a separation between church and state in order to allow science/research to potentially help those suffering from terrible diseases.
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