Dickey Wicker Amendment

Just recently, in March of 2009, President Obama lifted the Federal ban on the funding stating: “At this moment, the full promise of stem cell research remains unknown and it should not be overstated. But scientists believe these tiny cells may have the potential to help us understand, and possibly cure, some of our most devastating diseases and conditions.” Obama believes, like many others, that this type of research, though ethically triggering, can improve the survival rate of some diseases and in turn improve the live span of many worldwide. “Medical miracles do not happen simply by accident. They result from painstaking and costly research, from years of lonely trial and error, much of which never bears fruit, and from a government willing to support that work.” Obama also understand that research like this can take years to produce a positive and worthwhile result, but in order to produce such a result, support is needed by both the government and the people. He understands the costs, but believes that the benefits outweigh them. (“Obama on lifting…”)

Are embryonic stem cells the cure to many of the human body’s ailments, including defective organs and crippling diseases, or is their use a blatant disregard of human rights and the value of life?  Thanks to the rapid advancements in this field, the potential benefits of stem cells are slowly becoming reality.  However, embryonic stem cell research is an extremely divisive topic in the United States thanks to the ethical issues surrounding terminating embryos to harvest the stem cells.  In response to this debate, Congress passed the Dickey-Wicker amendment in 1995 to prohibit federal funding of research that involved the destruction of embryos.  President Bush affirmed this decision, but more recently President Obama lifted many of

The President’s Council on Bioethics published “Monitoring Stem Cell Research” in 2004. This report was written in response to President Bush’s comments regarding research of human stem cells on August 9, 2001. President Bush announced that he was going to make federal funding available for research that involved existing lines of stem cells that came from embryos. He is the first president to provide any type of financial support for the research of human stem cells. A Council was created with people who are educated in the field of stem cells to help monitor the research and to recommend guidelines and consider the ethical consequences that this research could create. This report is an “update” given

Reagan watched as her husband’s disease began to incapacitate him and knew she had to push harder to find a possible treatment. The search led her to Stem Cell Research. She prayed that one day someone would find a cure. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people who are against stem cell research. In the early 2000’s, the nation of public funding for Embryonic Stem-Cell research was controversial and divisive, with many Republicans tying the issue to abortion. (parenthetical citation article STAT article written by Shelia Kaplan 3/6/16). While Mrs. Reagan was at a Juvenile Diabetes event, she took advantage of the opportunity to speak out about how science is giving us some hope with stem cell research. Proceeding full steam ahead, Nancy took influence all the way to the White House. In 2001, she wrote to President George W. Bush, who opposed harvesting cells from discarded human embryos – and her words seemed to have made a difference. (parenthetical citation – article written by Sheila Kaplan 3/6/16). President Bush changed his mind and did not ban Stem Cell Research funding, but he did put restrictions on it. Once again a road block presented itself. The federal legislation was trying to block state funding, but is was Nancy back at the plate. She called many lawmakers to make sure there were no obstructions going forward. Nancy educated the public on where the cells come from, how they are kept, and how they are

In our government today Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President are all faced with making tough decisions for our country. These decisions are not only decided based off the constitution but the ideological shift as generations go on. Possibly one of the most controversial landmark decisions the government is currently being challenged with is the affair of abortion. In 1973 the Supreme Court of the United States was presented the case of Roe v Wade. The ruling decided a person has the right to privacy protected by the due process clause of the 14th amendment. This gave women the right to decide to have an abortion, but only under regulations from the state. As a result of this case, scientific research was conducted on stem cells starting in 1978 when a scientist discovered stem cells in human cord blood. From 1981 to 1991 scientist tested stem cells in mice, hamsters, and later in primates. 1998 marked an important discovery of pluripotent stem cells in an embryo, which is where the problem lies between the morals and ethics of citizens and the politicians’ jobs to decide for the people what is right for stem cell research.

The Department of Health and Human Services maintained a moratorium on federal funding for research on embryos and fetuses, as well as in vitro fertilization, until President Clinton issued an executive order lifting it in 1993 (Scott p.153). However, Congress banned federal funding for human embryo research by adding legislation known as the Dickey-Wicker Amendment to every appropriations bill for the National Institutes of Health since 1995, making it impossible for the President to overturn the ban without also cutting the cash flow to the NIH (Scott p.154). This restriction remains in place today. On August 9, 2001, President Bush “clarifies which human embryonic stem cells can be used under federal funding rules” by stating that any lines derived from excess IVF blastocysts before his announcement are eligible for grants (Hopkins 2005). Then in 2009, President Obama lifted the 'made-before ' restriction for stem cell lines but maintained the ban on creation and destruction of embryos for research purposes (Madison.com 2009).

The use of embryonic stem cells for research has been a controversial issue for many years. There have been benefits and risk toward the use of stem cells. The purpose of this paper is state the argument of both sides, how laws are brought into act, the position the state of Florida legislation has against using embryonic stems cells, how nurses can benefit being a health care policy advocate, and the position I chose in regards to fetal stem cell research.

Embryonic stem cell research has been a highly controversial topic for several years. The question of how far science is supposed to push human life has many sides, each warring against each other. In 2010, in the Sherley v. Sebelius case, allowing research involving human embryonic cells was brought into question once again, after Presidents Bush and Obama had dealt with the matter in previous years. At the end of the case in April of 2011, The District Court of Appeals decided to overturn the preliminary injunction, which actually had allowed federal funding the research experimenting with human embryos to continue. While this case was closed, the topic still is not. Stem cell research as a whole faces judgement from many who think it is

research; conservatives and pro-choice activists are highly against further research, but the tremendous advances in health care and President Bush’s recent decision to fund more

This year, eight million innocent lives will be lost due to cancer. (cdc.gov) Eight million lives. That is equivalent to the entire population of New York City being eradicated because of one ravaging disease. However, there is a way to prevent these deaths, and this way is embryonic stem cell research. Embryonic stem cell research has the ability to not only find cures to some of our nation’s most appalling illnesses, but it also involves beneficial utilization of the hundreds of thousands of unused embryos that die each year at fertility centers. For these reasons, it is essential that embryonic stem cell research be funded by the U.S. government.

Millions of people die every year from diseases and accidents; the nightly news is filled with reports about the devastating effects of cancer, horrific accidents, and disasters that leave people disfigured or paralyzed. Embryonic stem cell research is a part of biomedical science and has the potential to ease the suffering of sick people by curing diseases and defects, creating organs and tissue for patients needing transplants or skin grafts, regenerating axons in spinal cord injuries, and creating new treatments, drugs, and immunizations. However, America’s government does not support this research to an extent that would make a difference in medicine; only a few stem cell lines are authorized, and federal funding is minimal. The

President Bush was the first president that approved stem cell research of any kind. But he did not clearly outline what the policy was, or what his stance on it was. He drew heat from both stem cell supporters and detractors. He recounts how the doctors that were doing the research felt that Bush did not do enough to help them, and the people who are against stem cell research felt as though he did far too much to help. Bush also states how John Kerry used his unclear stance on stem cells as a means of calling Bush “anti-science”. This is a difficult topic to please everyone with, but Bush did not do the best job that he

On August 9, 2001 President Bush announced that he would allow limited federal funding for embryonic stem cell research under certain conditions. Under Bush's new ruling only the 64 stem cell lines that were already in place before August 9 were to be funded. He said that the government would not fund further destruction of embryos to create more lines. Also stem cells could not be obtained from embryos created for that purpose or from the left over embryos from in-vitro fertilization. However, private sectors would be allowed to continue producing new lines through the destruction of embryos.

Embryonic stem cell research is a highly controversial topic in today's society, this kind of stem cell commits to regenerate any type of tissue. Unfortunately, Embryonic Stem Cell Research has a dark side. To obtain these cells will kill the embryo automatically. In other words, the acquirement of the Human Embryonic Stem Cell includes performing an abortion. To obtain these cells, it would kill the embryo. This has created controversy since abortion is such a divisive topic. Politicians are uneasy to take sides. The Human Embryonic Stem Cell issue is today's Pandora's Box due to all the unwittingly chaos that it can bring to our lives. By having this new option available in the medical world,

The controversial topic of stem cell research has been a controversial topic for a very long time. In 2001, George Bush severely restricted government-funded stem cell research. In 2009, Barack Obama allowed it. The order says that National Institutes of health can produce new procedures and policies in which the money can be used. On August 23, 2010, a federal judge issued an order blocking all research of stem-cells, including that allowed even when Bush was president. On July 27, 2011, Royce Lamberth, Chief judge of the federal court in Washington, D.C., said that stem cells could be used for life-threatening diseases. The Court of Appeals agreed with this, and the case was brought to a close (Stem cell policy).