Another in a continuing series of updates, doffing our cap to the “age of light” that bassist-extraordinaire Tony Garnier was said (by Bob Dylan) to be anticipating under the rule of President Barack Obama.

Yesterday, in the words of the Washington Post, President Obama ended the ban on stem cell research. Actually, that’s an inaccurate headline on a number of levels, and one which should really make the editors at the Washington Post ashamed of themselves. Firstly, the president’s action was directed at allowing federal funds to go to embryonic stem cell research, which is just one form of stem cell research. Stem cell research in general (and it is with the use of adult stem cells that the most promising treatments so far have been developed) has been eligible for U.S. federal funding all along. Secondly, there wasn’t even a ban, as such, on embryonic stem cell research. President George W. Bush was the first president to authorize federal funding for such research. He simply limited the use of federal funds to research on existing embryonic stem cell lines. If instead you wanted to obtain new embryonic stem cell lines –which can only be done by destroying (i.e. killing) embryos — you would have had to look instead for private funding, or for funding from various states in the U.S. which have promoted this research, or for international sources of funding.

President Bush, by the way, made his decision — a difficult compromise — after a lengthy process of deliberation, consulting the finest ethical minds he could enlist, and he explained his decision in his first special televised address to the nation, in the summer of 2001. President Obama appears to have made up his mind on this issue long ago, as a matter of politics, and merely looked for a convenient day on which to make the announcement.

But let’s look at another part of the story. While allowing federal funds to go to research that destroys human embryos, President Obama went to pains to make clear that he’s not just some morally reckless politician — there are lines he won’t consider crossing:

Obama took care to emphasize that the order would not “open the door” to allow human cloning, which he said is “dangerous, profoundly wrong and has no place in our society, or any society.”

What I’d like to ask President Obama, in relation to his ban on cloning, is: Why?

If there is nothing wrong with using human embryos to generate (or potentially generate) treatments for various diseases, or to extend people’s lives in our brave new world, why would you want to say no to the use of cloned embryos for these purposes? Cloned embryos could be created so that they would possess precisely the same DNA as the adult human who requires an embryonic stem cell treatment. This would surely be of enormous benefit in preventing the rejection of that treatment by the body.

What’s the difference here? Either it’s alright to cannibalize a human embryo to treat a human adult, or it’s not. It is likely that President Obama would maintain that embryonic stem cell research is only going to proceed on embryos that have already been created (e.g. for in vitro fertilization purposes) and would otherwise be ultimately discarded and destroyed anyway. However, if this research is successful, and we move into a world where human embryos are needed for treatments and for research, then there will be a need to have a supply of such embryos. Imagine a future where in vitro fertilization techniques are more efficient and no longer require a lot of “spare” embryos. Suddenly, would people who would have been treated for Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s with embryonic stem cells be expected to stop receiving such treatments? I don’t think so. Once you create a demand for human embryos for the purpose of administering treatments to the sick and for extending the life-span of the elderly, then there will be enormous political pressure to keep up the supply. Look, indeed, at the pressure that has come to bear in the present time, to allow federal funds for this research, even though not a single cure has yet come from embryonic stem cell treatments.

In the end, for President Obama to gleefully authorize the use of U.S. federal funds for the destruction of human embryos, while at the same time describing human cloning as “dangerous, profoundly wrong” and something which “has no place in our society, or any society” is morally incoherent. And that’s the polite way of putting it, assuming as it does that he simply doesn’t understand the implications of what he is doing. I fear that it is more likely that he is simply saying this for show, ruling out the idea of reproductive cloning — which no serious people want to do anyway — while leaving the door open for the cloning of embryos to generate treatments for the sick and aged. An embryo either warrants the reverence that some argue human beings deserve, or it is merely a thing to be used for whatever practical benefits may accrue. President Obama planted himself firmly on the latter side of this fence yesterday, and the implications for the future are somber.

It’s a step towards a brave new world, alright, but I’m not yet detecting an age of light.

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