President Barack Obama is expected to lift restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research today, in a move that will overthrow the Bush policy that has been in place for the last eight years.

The new guidelines will be issued by the National Institutes of Health within the next four months, in a move aimed at protecting the scientific matter from political influence. According to Melody Barnes, director of Obama’s Domestic Policy Council, the President believes that the memorandum will put science and technology back at the heart of pursuing a broad range of national goals.

Former President Bush’s position regarding embryonic stem cell research has often been regarded by scientists as a way of putting politics before science (one priority that the former administration has been accused of having over multiple critical issues).

Lifting the restrictions will open new horizons for science and medicine, and will finally allow scientists to develop real and critical solutions for conditions we are confronting with every day.

Embryonic stem cell research has its share of adepts and opponents, but its benefits are hard to deny. However, religion often comes in the way of science, inhibiting developments that we could have perhaps accomplished a long time ago.

The scientific community has embraced Obama’s decision as a sign that science is finally being granted support for responsible research. The decision overturns Bush’s 2001 decision, and fulfills the promises President Barack Obama made during his presidential campaign.