Diabetes News - American Diabetes Association

Diabetes News - American Diabetes Association:

"Lifting the ban on taxpayer funding of research on new stem cells from fertilized embryos would better serve both science and the nation, the chief of the National Institutes of Health told lawmakers Monday.

Allowing the ban to remain in place, Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni told a Senate panel, leaves his agency fighting 'with one hand tied behind our back.'

'It is clear today that American science will be better served - the nation will be better served - if we allow our scientists to have access to more cell lines,' Zerhouni told two members of the Senate health appropriations subcommittee during a hearing on the NIH's proposed 2008 budget. The NIH, with a nearly $29 billion annual budget, is the main federal agency that conducts and funds medical research."

Comment: Following my last posting, it also seems clear that there is a problem when people use their religious beliefs to interfere with the search using modern biomedical research approaches for new therapies and medical knowledge. JAD