Flawed embryos seen as source for stem cells

From what is now considered medical waste might be fashioned bio-treasure: stem cells able to form into any of the body's 220 cell types, including blood, nerves, bone, and skin tissue, new research suggests. The poor quality embryos are "an ethically acceptable source" for the creation of stem cell lines. Scientists at Children's Hospital Boston have forged stem cells from the "flawed" and "poor quality" early-stage embryos that in vitro fertilization clinics discard by the hundreds of thousands every year, according to research published yesterday in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Bush Again Vetoes Bill on Stem Cell Research

President Bush today issued his second veto of a measure lifting his restrictions on human embryonic stem cell experiments, a move that effectively pushed the contentious scientific and ethical debate surrounding the research into the 2008 presidential campaign.
At the same time, Mr. Bush issued an executive order intended to encourage scientists to pursue other forms of stem cell research that he does not deem unethical. But that research is already going on and the plan provides no new money.
Advocates for embryonic stem cell research called the new plan a ploy to distract from Mr. Bush’s opposition to the studies. “I think the president has issued a political fig leaf,” said Sean Tipton, spokesman for the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, an advocacy group. “He knows he’s on the wrong side of the American public.”