Senator boosts chances of stem-cell reform

摘要

Prospects for US stem-cell research brightened considerably last week when a key Republican senator backed the idea of loosening funding restrictions on the work. In a speech on the floor of the Senate on 29 July, majority leader Bill Frist (Republican, Tennessee) endorsed efforts to increase federal funding for research on newly derived human embryonic stem-cell lines. He said that President George Bush's policy of limiting the use of federal funds to a handful of lines derived before 9 August 2001 needed changing. "I believe the president's policy should be modified," Frist said. "We should expand federal funding and current guidelines governing stem-cell research, carefully and thoughtfully staying within ethical bounds."