WASHINGTON, July 8, 2002 (LSN.ca) – A loophole in the Bush administration's guidelines for stem cell research means that Clinton era guidelines for aborted fetus research are still in effect. The result is that, in late May, a federally-funded project using stem cells obtained from fetuses aborted up to eight weeks after conception has been given approval, according to reports.
At the eighth week, the fetus already has all the attributes present in a fully developed adult, including brainwaves (at 40 days), heartbeat, eyes, organs and sensitivity to touch.
But it turns out that Bush's August 2001 restrictions on human embryo experimentation do not apply to research on stem cells obtained from fetuses, according to officials at the National Institutes of Health. Such work falls under less-restrictive Clinton-era rules, which Bush has not got around to revising. As a result, on May 20, the NIH awarded Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine $150,000 to study two insulin-producing stem cell lines with “potential applications” for diabetes treatment.
White House officials said Bush left the Clinton guidelines for fetus-derived cells in place because Congress passed a law in 1993 that made it illegal for presidents to ban funding for such research.