CHICAGO – Comptroller Dan Hynes today praised President Barack Obama’s decision to lift the current ban on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research as “a return to responsible federal support for life-saving scientific research.”

An executive order signed by President Obama reverses President George Bush’s 2001 decision to withhold federal funding for research on newly formed lines of embryonic stem cells. Bush’s order limited funding to the 21 lines then in existence, which opponents said all but ended funding for meaningful research.

“This was a victory for the prospect of medical cures over ideology, and a win for the common sense approach that scientific research funding should be a federal priority, not a state concern,” said Hynes. “There is no question in the mainstream scientific community that stem cell research holds the key to cures for diseases that affect nearly every family in Illinois.”

In 2007, Hynes helped lead the successful effort to make public funding of all ethical forms of stem cell research permanently legal in Illinois. He was also instrumental in helping establish the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute for the development of stem-cell based treatments.