OTTAWA, April 30, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The federal funding agency, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, has announced that it has postponed its grants for research involving embryonic stem cell research until next April. Moreover, Genome Canada, another federal funding agency has said it will go along with the CIHR decision and postpone funding as well. The hold comes after CIHR president Alan Bernstein came under heavy fire by the Health Committee for releasing funding guidelines prior to federal legislation on the issue.
The delay will give legislators a chance to debate the reproductive technology legislation which Health Minister Anne McLellan has promised numerous times would be introduced on or before May 10. Liberal, Alliance and Bloc Quebecois MPs in the Commons Health Committee criticized Bernstein in an April 17 session for doing an “end-run” around parliament. The CIHR announced public funding would be available for scientists engaging even in contentious areas as research on human embryos left over from fertility treatments and with aborted fetal tissue.
See the Globe and Mail coverage: https://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/RTGAMArticleHTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/realtime/fullstory_ print.html&cf=tgam/realtime/config-neutral&articleDate=20020430&slug=wxembr&date= 20020430&archive=RTGAM&site=Front