sisyphusshrugged | I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot about this, but then I'm a little torn about the Santa/Easter Bunny

Looks like there may be no-one left for St. Louis Catholics to vote for.

The Bush administration has acknowledged that additional lines, or colonies, of embryonic stem cells could speed scientific research, a statement that advocates for patients say could mark the first step toward easing limits on taxpayer financing for the studies.

The acknowledgment was tucked into a carefully worded letter sent on Friday by Dr. Elias Zerhouni, the director of the National Institutes of Health, to 206 members of Congress who are pressing President Bush to alter his stem cell policy.

In the letter, Dr. Zerhouni reiterated the president's stand that tax dollars not be used to "sanction or encourage further destruction of human embryos." But he also wrote, "It is also fair to say that from a purely scientific perspective more cell lines may well speed some areas" of research.

"It's certainly not a change in policy," said Representative Michael N. Castle, Republican of Delaware, who is spearheading an effort in the House to change the president's policy. "I look upon it as an invitation to have further discussions."

Not a change as such, just a slight difference in prepositions. Foetal stem cell research has always been near the table. It's just that before, foetal stem cell research was off the table. Now, foetal stem cell research is on the table.