NIH Director Supports Stem Cell Research

The head of the U.S. National Institutes of Health says he supports an end to federal funding restrictions for embryonic stem cell research.

It is clear today that American science will be better-served, and the nation will be better-served, if we let our scientists have access to more stem cell lines, Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni told the Senate health appropriations subcommittee, which oversees the NIH’s budget.

The Los Angeles Times says Zerhouni’s unequivocal public endorsement and public dissent to White House policy came as a surprise to supporters of stem cell research who have struggled with the Bush administration for the past six years.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Zerhouni is free to express his personal opinion but it is the president who sets the policy, the newspaper said.

After careful and thoughtful deliberation with government and outside experts, there was only one moral line that the president said he would not cross — and that is that federal taxpayer dollars should not be used in the destruction of embryos, Fratto said.