Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/obama-policy-shift-reopens-debate-on-stem-cell-research Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript President Barack Obama moved Monday to lift funding limits on embryonic stem cell research. Experts weigh how the decision fits into the president's broader approach to science. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. GWEN IFILL: Now a closer look at the policy change on stem cell research and where it fits into the president's broader approach toward science.We have two views. Dr. Irv Weissman is director of the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University. He attended today's White House ceremony.And we hope to be joined shortly by Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, a conservative political advocacy group. He, we hope, will be joining us tonight from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.Dr. Weissman, I want to start by asking you to explain exactly, how significant is it what the president did today? IRVING WEISSMAN, Stanford University: It was a fantastic change, because two things happened. First, the president said, "I'm going to let scientists do science. I'm going to remove politics, religion, and ideology from that."The second thing he said is, "I'm going to allow all the scientists in the United States to apply for funds to do embryonic stem cell research or pluripotent stem cell research, all the scientists in the United States, not just those in California and those states that already fund it." GWEN IFILL: Well, we're going to take this a bit at a time, but let's start by reminding people exactly of what is significant about embryonic stem cell research as opposed to adult stem cell research, which was never prohibited. IRVING WEISSMAN: Right. And I want to start by saying I'm an adult stem cell researcher. My lab isolated blood-forming and other tissue-forming stem cells. We were also the ones to show that blood-forming stem cells make blood and nothing else. It is not true that adult stem cells of one type can make another tissue.On the other hand, embryonic stem cells at the earliest stage of development, as they develop in a test tube, can make every kind of tissue. We surmise, then, every kind of stem cell.They'll allow us to move much faster to find, for example, a lung stem cell, a kidney stem cell, a heart stem cell, a liver stem cell. Those are the stem cells we don't have; yet all of us wish to have those organs and those tissues regenerated when things go wrong.