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

[sisyphusshrugged]

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.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

oh and ps.

by the time they are done bickering on fetal stem cell, science would have move on and creating an entirely synthetic stem cell source.

then I would chuckle and ask Bush, say Bush...what is life?

I'll give it 5 to 10 yrs for first rudimentary synthetic system to be reported. (I lost a bet with my friend predicting the first human clone won't be done before 2010, isntead of 2003. *sniff*)

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

I believe that it's all due to Nancy Reagan's appeal. (Thank heavens for Nancy.)

I'd rather not remind Republicans of their previous stance on this issue. I want them to feel that they've always supported fetal stem cell research, and to make them as comfortable as possible with this issue. I'd really like for this to become a non-issue. It has a lot of promise for developing new cures for old diseases.

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, a widely-circulated "Catholic" voter's guide which was clearly written with input from the Republican party (I'm guessing by a Baptist, because it almost certainly wasn't a Catholic) and a recent pronouncement by more than one bishop have said that if a candidate supports FSCR, you may not as a practicing Cathoilic vote for them, or for that matter receive communion if you do.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

...and a recent pronouncement by more than one bishop have said that if a candidate supports FSCR...

I've only heard about one pronouncement; were there others?