Video: President Obama opens door for stem cell research

An embryonic stem cell is a fertilized egg that’s five to six days old and has begun to develop inner cell mass.

It measures about a tenth of a millimeter, and it’s not quite big enough to see with the human eye.

Scientists harvest the embryonic stem cells from the part of the embryo that would develop into a fetus or a baby.

That’s where the controversy starts.

“To get them from the embryo - you have to destroy the embryo,“ says Mountain Brook fertility specialist Dr. Michael Steinkampf.

Groups like the Catholic Church and many conservatives oppose embryonic stem cell research and President Obama’s decision to allow tax money to pay for it.

“There’s human life at conception. That must be preserved. The harvesting of the stem cells destroys that human life, and we do not think that is acceptable,“ says Frank Savage of the Birmingham Catholic Diocese.

Others argue the embryonic stem cells that would be used for research are unwanted leftovers from fertility clinics…cells that hold the promise of curing dozens if not hundreds of medical problems, from spinal cord injuries to juvenile diabetes. 

“These are cells that can make themselves into any organ in the body,“ says Steinkampf.

President Obama’s decision only allows research to be done on embryonic stem cells that already exist.

New cells can’t be created for research purposes.

Steinkampf says right now, thousands of unwanted or abandoned embryos sit in fertility clinics around the world, including his.

“That pile of charts represents the patients in this clinic who have asked for their embryos to be discarded,“ says Steinkampf, pointing to a stack piled up about two feet.

Steinkampf says some of those patients would like to donate their embryos to science, but there’s been no demand because there’s been no money for research.

President Obama’s recent stimulus bill funnels ten billion dollars of research money to the National Institutes of Health.

Political insiders predict much of that cash will now be directed at embryonic stem cell research, some of which may be done here in Birmingham at UAB.