• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Bush Vetoes Bill Easing Stem Cell Limits

Posted on: Wednesday, 20 June 2007, 15:06 CDT

By DEB RIECHMANN

WASHINGTON - Pushing back against the Democratic-led Congress, President Bush vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have eased restraints on federally funded embryonic stem cell research.

Democrats, who had made the stem cell legislation a top priority when they took control of the House and Senate in January, were quick to denounce the president's decision.

"This is just one example of how the president puts ideology before science, politics before the needs of our families, just one more example of how out of touch with reality he and his party have become," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., told the Take Back America conference of liberal activists Wednesday.

To blunt criticism, the White House said Bush is issuing an executive order directing the Health and Human Services Department to promote research into cells that - like human embryonic stem cells - also hold the potential of regenerating into different types of cells that might be used to battle disease.

"This is, certainly not an attempt to muzzle science," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "It is an attempt, I think, to respect people's conscience on such an issue."

If the measure Bush vetoed would have become law, the White House said it would have compelled taxpayers for the first time in our history - to support the deliberate destruction of human embyros. Snow said Bush's executive order will encourage scientists to work with the government to add research on new stem cell lines - that does not involve the creation, harming or destruction of human embryos - to the list of projects eligible for federal funding.

"The president does not believe it's appropriate to put an end to human life for research purposes," Snow said. "That's a line he will not cross."

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

More News in this Category