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"  Five years and a president ago, the author James McManus was known primarily for his out-of-the-blue run to fifth place in the World Series of Poker when, out of the pages of Esquire, came &amp;quot;Please Stand by While the Age of Miracles Is Briefly Suspended&amp;quot; \u2014 his National Magazine Award-nominated treatise on stem-cell research, his daughter, and the Bush administration. That month, at an informal gathering in Chris Kennedy&amp;#039;s backyard, Senator Barack Obama told McManus he&amp;#039;d read the story. This was before heading off to the Democratic convention, McManus said, &amp;quot;just before his political star arrived in the heavens.&amp;quot; At that point, privately funded scientists had identified hundreds of viable stem-cell lines, but America&amp;#039;s official stance on regenerative testing and therapy was just twenty-one cell lines long; Bush would veto federal funding for embryonic stem cells in each of 2006 and 2007. But yesterday, much to the delight of sane people throughout the country, President Obama&amp;#039;s lifting of the ban (first announced in March) went into effect. We caught up with McManus on the return, as it were, of the age of miracles. ESQUIRE: How is your family taking the news?  JAMES MCMANUS: I&amp;#039;m obviously delighted \u2014 not surprised. One of the first things Clinton did in &amp;#039;93 was to allow stem-cell research to continue. And as soon as George Bush entered, he reversed that. The reason western medicine is years ahead is that we&amp;#039;ve consistently given sway to the scientific method over and above superstition and theocracy. During the presidency of George W. Bush, that modus operandi was interrupted for eight years. When people are struggling to survive diseases, eight years can be a lifetime. I knew that Obama would be on the right side of the issue.  ESQ: What&amp;#039;s new with your daughter since the article was published in 2004? JM: My daughter is still alive, still awaiting a cure along with millions of others who have juvenile diabetes. It&amp;#039;s a marvelous day when we have the government and its moral authority and financial support behind this issue. She&amp;#039;s hanging in there. ESQ: What do these new guidelines on stem-cell research mean for people like your daughter? How long do you think it&amp;#039;ll really take before stem cells are a viable treatment option for her?  JM: I&amp;#039;m no longer in the business of forecasting that. The trick is to not die or go blind or have an amputation before the cure comes. And every day, those complications are setting in for people. It doesn&amp;#039;t really matter to people that are five, six, or seven years old. But it matters an infinite amount to those who&amp;#039;ve had it for thirty or forty years. In other words, for people whose pancreases are breaking down today, there&amp;#039;s no doubt that stem-cell research will enable them to produce their own insulin in some way, shape, or form. But it&amp;#039;s not so clear for people who are older and have had it longer. ESQ: The ban was only lifted on cells harvested from surplus embryos at fertility clinics \u2014 not therapeutic cloning. Is that enough to find the kinds of cures we&amp;#039;ve heard stem cells could provide?  JM: The hero of my book was a guy named Woo Suk Hwang, a Korean scientist who figured out how to clone embryos. It turned out that he had been a charlatan \u2014 the state of the art keeps changing. Apparently, the ability to affect the cures is no longer necessarily about embryonic stem cells. Exactly how the cures are going to come about is radically unclear. My concern is more with the spirit at the head of the body politic and his policies to allow various scientists and doctors to figure out the best way to cure human diseases. I certainly applaud Obama&amp;#039;s willingness to open the spigot more after Bush had closed it off. RELATED LINKS:  EARLIER: Please Stand by While the Age of Miracles Is Briefly Suspended  PLUS: One Doc&amp;#039;s Fight to Make Stem Cells a Political Priority  VIDEO: Stem-Cell Innovator Anthony Atala in the Esquire Cube  CALENDAR: Embryonic Research &amp;amp;amp; More to Look Forward to in the Next 25 Years   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a6064/obama-stem-cell-policy-070809/>