With a limited amount of funds available for scientific research, you have to pick winners and losers. You can't fund everything at 100% all the time, and scientists themselves realize this reality. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides most of the government funding for this type of research.
8 years ago, many scientists were clamoring for federal funding for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. Bush decided that he would fund the research for the first time (Clinton never funded it, for example), but restricted federal funding to those cell lines that were currently available at the time.
Over $125 million has been spent by NIH on hESC research since then, so I dispute that America has "lost ground" to anyone. We just spent our money working on a different flavor of research in the same field.
As a result of this funding "ban" (not really a ban as I explained), scientists have since developed iPS cells. These cells are created by transforming skin cells with three important regulatory proteins found in ESC. There are no ethical problems with using these cells at all, and they have been hailed as a major breakthrough.
Obama just reversed Bush's non-ban on hESC research, and he made a nice speech about letting scientists decide, rather than politicians. That's all well and good, but what he didn't tell you is that scientists already have decided, and they are now saying that more iPS research is their top priority at this point. NIH just published a list of the top 8 priorities in stem cell research, and iPS cells were a major part of 6 of them. One other used adult stem cells, and the other used any type, including iPS. None specifically mentioned creating new hESC lines at all.
Code:
1. Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells for Aging and Neurodegeneration Research.
2. Delineate Factors That Control The Differentiation Of Pluripotent Stem Cells In The Skin And Musculoskeletal
System Into Different Lineages.
3. Precise Reprogramming of Cells from Oral and Craniofacial Tissues: Recent advances in reprogramming
of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) cells constitute an important breakthrough...
4. Induced pluripotent stem cells--cellular and humanized mouse models of disease.
5. Development of stem cell treatment for degenerative diseases of the eye.
6. Develop molecular signatures for heart, vascular, lung, and blood diseases by profiling reprogrammed
induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) derived from affected individuals of defined genotype.
7. Developing iPS cells for mental disorders.
8. Reverse engineering human neurological disease. ... There will be an emphasis on appropriate
validation of iPS cells and their derivatives, evaluating the hetero/homogeneity of any cell populations
to be screened and use of cellular assays relevant to normal development, organ function and disease.
You can see the full list here.
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding...s.pdf#topic_14
Furthermore, the scientists at NIH recently announced that they would not fund any new grants this year. They have plenty of money, due to the stimulus package, but have decided to fund old grants that have already been submitted, or to increase funding for existing grants.
http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55438/
That means they have indirectly rejected funding any new hESC research this year, by their own choice. That's not exactly what I would expect if they thought this stuff was a high priority.
I think instead of ending the politicization of hESC research, Obama has actually increased it. He has repeatedly cited public opinion polls when discussing this subject, which is a political argument rather than a scientific one. And the big signing ceremony and propaganda about making up lost ground, and about Bush's 'War on Science" is further proof of the same.