预计美国总统奥巴马星期一签署行政令，解除对用政府经费资助有关用人类胚胎干细胞进行医学研究的限制。总统的顾问说，奥巴马下令美国国家卫生研究院起草指导原则，确定用联邦资金支付胚胎干细胞的研究在什么情况下，以及如何做才是符合道义和合法的。
2001年8月，前总统布什禁止使用纳税人的钱对取用新的人类胚胎干细胞进行研究。反对干细胞研究的人说，破坏人类胚胎进行干细胞研究是不道德的。
干细胞是人体所有组织形成的母细胞。研究人员相信干细胞可以用来推进治疗某些疾病的医疗技术，如老年痴呆症、帕金森症或者治疗脊椎损伤。
U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order Monday that will lift restrictions on the use of federal funding for medical research using human embryonic stem cells. Advisors to the president say Mr. Obama order the U.S. National Institutes of Health to draw up guidelines on when and how it is ethical and legal to use federal funds to pay for embryonic stem cell research.
In August 2001, then-President George W. Bush banned the use of taxpayer money for research using new lines of human embryonic stem cells. Critics of the research say destroying human embryos for research using stem cells is immoral.
Stem cells are the master cells from which all types of body tissue are formed. Researchers believe stem cells could be used to make medical advances against diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, or to treat spinal cord injuries.