Even Pope John Paul II condemned such research last summer. Congress bans federally funded research that destroys human embryos. President Bush has agreed. Taking stem cells from embryos, done when the embryos are the size of a period at the end of a sentence, does destroy them. The NIH plans to fund only research using already grown cell lines so NIH-funded scientists never touch an actual embryo.
Critics call that a technicality.
Bush's nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department, Tommy Thompson, would oversee NIH and decide the issue. As Wisconsin's governor, he publicly praised University of Wisconsin scientists who created the first embryonic stem cell line as medical pioneers, but on Friday he dodged the funding question. Regardless of the political wrangling, science is racing ahead. Already, Harvard's Dr. Evan Snyder, lead researcher on the monkey project, and Gearhart are talking with the FDA about how much animal testing is needed before stem cell implants might be tried in people. Testing people probably won't happen for another few years, despite early optimism about the monkey project.