Clinton's ban on funds for most studies using fertilized human eggs short-circuits NIH'spolicy-making process |
Many scientists studying human reproduction and embryology are angry and disappointed over a recent White House move to preclude federal funding for most research involving human embryos--new support that had been recommended by an expert panel. They see the move as an attempt to appease the new conservative ma-jority in Congress, which has threatened legislation against such studies.
They say promising work--on fertility, birth defects, development, and cancer--will go forward, but much more slowly than it otherwise might have (see story on page 6). The burden of funding for such investigations will continue to be borne unfairly by infertile couples seeking help from in vitro fertilization clinics in conceiving a child, they claim, as has been the case for many years.
President Bill Clinton's December 2 statement specifically blocked the National Institutes of Health from providing ...
