Panel Slams Use of Approved Stem Cells

[Snellius]

BALTIMORE Nov. 10 — A medical ethics panel said Monday it would be unethical and risky to treat people with the embryonic stem cells approved by President Bush for federally funded research.

The approved cell lines, created for possible future disease treatments, were initially grown on mouse cells. That could expose humans to an animal virus their immune systems couldn't fight, the panel said. The experts said that safer stem cell lines now exist, but those would not be eligible for federal funding.

The ethics panel announcement was the latest sign of the friction between stem cell scientists and Bush, who two years ago set limits on the controversial research which destroys human embryos.

Earlier this year, the director of the National Institutes of Health called on the president to lift his restrictions. And a number of scientists note that research into stem cells is progressing overseas.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20031110_1940.html

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

1. Bush's pandering to the superstitious has its costs.... n/t