The legitimacy of a three-year-old ban on federal funds put toward embryonic stem cell research returned to the political forefront over the weekend.

Although a conference held at the Scheman Building dealt with the nature of stem cell research last week, top presidential candidates articulated their views on the controversial research.

“My administration is the first to allow federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. However, I put in place reasonable ethical requirements for scientists who want to use taxpayer dollars,” President Bush said in a written response to “Nature,” a national scientific journal.

Bush said he believed scientific discovery and ethical considerations did not have to be adversarial and that taxpayer money should not go toward the destruction of human lives.

The 2001 ban halted funds for new stem cell lines, but maintained funding for 78 pre-existing stem cell lines.

Democratic challenger John Kerry said he was in favor of lifting the ban, which he said was stopping research on cures for severe diseases.

“Right now, more than 100 million Americans suffer from illnesses that one day could be wiped away with stem cell therapy, including cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes and other debilitating diseases,” Kerry said. “We must make funding for this research and other important scientific work a priority in our universities and our medical community — all while we ensure strict ethical oversight.”

Kerry agreed with the president that human cloning should be banned, but would not support a Bush plan to pass a comprehensive ban on all human cloning. The issue, he said, is being halted by “ideological shackles,” instead of scientific expertise.

An Iowa law banning the use of cloned cells reflects the stance of the different camps in the national debate.

The law, called the Embryo Research and Cloning Act, was authored by former state Sen. John Redwine, R-Sioux City, and was signed into law in 2002.

Early versions of the law would have banned all forms of cloning, but was later revised to allow for research on existing embryonic cell lines.

“It would not affect any of the programs dealing with stem cell research other than on human beings,” Redwine said in 2002, according to Daily staff reports. “The only thing that it will ban is the killing of a human embryo in Iowa.”

Redwine said there were some ethical dimensions to the bill, but there also needed to be some regulation on destructive research.

“It’s not ethical to destroy or kill another human being for the sake of anyone,” Redwine said in a March 27, 2002 Daily article.

“That kind of research involves sacrificing one human being for another,” he said.

Johnie Hammond, a former state senator from Ames, said she was opposed to the bill when it was first drafted because it blocked important research. She also had problems with ethical oppositions, because most of the opponents had an anti-abortion stance.

“It was pro-life, which I think is questionable in this case,” Hammond said.