"I am frustrated... that we are preventing the advancement of important science that could potentially impact millions of suffering Americans... My hope, and the hope of so many in this country, is to provide our researchers with the means to explore the uses of embryonic stem cells so that we can begin to turn the tide on the devastating diseases affecting our nation and our world." The speaker echoes the feelings of many researchers who would like to follow their investigations to their logical conclusions but are prevented from doing so by the vagaries of politics.

But this was no idle comment, for the words are those of Barack Obama, president-elect of the US.

The proposed change would lift federal funding restrictions on research that uses embryonic stem cells. These are harvested from human embryos which are specifically donated for this purpose.

The change in policy coincides with success in adult stem cell therapy, as well as tremendous growth in genetic lifestyle products entering the market.

Stem cells are being used to treat rare forms of ocular surface disorders which result in permanent blindness. Stem cells have been shown to trigger regrowth of heart-muscle and blood vessels, as well as healing of scar tissue in people who have suffered heart attacks. Similar therapies have been used to grow new capillary tissue in those suffering from advanced hypertension. In late November, Claudio Castillo became the first recipient of an artificially generated bronchus (the passage from the main windpipe, the trachea, into a lung) when stem cells were used to create a new one for her.

At the same time, more mainstream genetic products are gaining public attention. The most high-profile is 23andme, owned by Anne Wojcicki who is the wife of Google-owner Sergey Brin, which promises that a simple saliva test can estimate your predisposition for more than 90 traits. Numerous services – including a project run by the Africa Genome Education Institute across South Africa – offer to provide a genetic origins map that pinpoints your ancestry over the last few thousand years.

The base knowledge of what genetics is, and the limitations of such testing and research, is very weak amongst the general public. But it hasn’t stopped the gradual shift of a fear-based response to all DNA research, to one that is becoming quite positive.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop people (men) attempting to find out if genetic ancestry testing can be a proxy for paternity testing. It isn’t, and it can’t.

So, scientists and investors in the US are excited by the prospect of the opportunities which will finally be legal in the world’s largest medical market from 2009.

The UK, however, is greeting this change with apprehension and, in some cases, alarm.

The BBC reports that Professor Pete Coffey, director of the London Project to Cure Blindness at University College London, is investigating stem cell therapy for age-related macular degeneration. All of his funding to move the work from the lab into the hospital setting so far has come from the US.

Professor Coffey’s experience is repeated across the country. When research was blocked in the US, then investors and scientists simply moved to a more liberal environment: the UK. Unfortunately, while stem cell research is legal in the UK, the regulatory environment is slow and filled with red-tape.

Many of these research projects look destined to return to their American roots, taking much-needed investment along with it.

The more liberal environment in the US offers a tremendous competitive push for science policy across the world to become more open and progressive.