WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) issued the following statement today after President Obama signed an executive order overturning President Bush’s stem cell policy:

“I applaud President Obama for overturning the previous administration’s politically-based restrictions on stem cell research. For too long, federal health research has been operating with one hand tied behind its back. Federal funding was restricted for embryonic stem cell research, but private, for-profit firms were allowed to proceed in an unregulated atmosphere away from the public eye and without national standards.

“I am on the side of cures and so is President Obama. The executive order he signed today allows researchers to use sound science and sound ethics to find new ways to prevent, diagnose, treat and even cure some of life’s most devastating diseases, like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes. This research is crucial to families and patients all over the nation desperate for cures to save lives today and tomorrow.”