WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 5, 01 (CWNews.com) - While he wouldn't elaborate on specific plans, President-elect George W. Bush's press secretary said on Thursday that the new president would stand by campaign promise to oppose research that kills living embryonic children.

    Press secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush "would oppose federally funded research for experimentation on embryonic stem cells that require live human embryos to be discarded or destroyed." When asked whether Bush intends to block the National Institutes of Health which is now accepting grant applications for research on stem cells harvested by private researchers, Fleischer demurred. "I think (Bush's) statement speaks for itself. And I'm not going to go beyond that," Fleischer said.

    Another Bush spokesman, Scott McClelland, later added: "The president-elect's position is clear. He opposes federal funds for research that involves destroying living human embryos. ... As we have previously indicated, we intend to review all rules and executive orders implemented by the Clinton administration."

    Proponents of the research, which uses cells from unborn embryonic children that can develop into any tissue of the body but kills the donor, say such experimentation can lead to treatments for Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease among other maladies. Critics say the same research can be conducted using cells taken from adults, a donation which does not kill the donor.

For other news stories, see

January 6, 2001
volume 12, no. 6
News on the Church in the USA

---

Return to Front Page of Current Issue