BMJ  2007;334:1243 (16 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39245.359306.DB

News

Bush says he will veto stem cell funding, despite vote in favour in Congress

Jeanne Lenzer

Boston

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The US Congress passed a controversial bill last week to allow federal funding of research that uses embryonic stem cells.

However, George Bush issued a statement immediately after the bill was passed saying that he will veto the bill on his return from the G8 summit in Germany. "If this bill were to become law," said President Bush, "American taxpayers would for the first time in our history be compelled to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos."

Although the bill was passed by a wide margin, it did not meet the two thirds majority needed to override any veto. Nevertheless, politicians who favour stem cell research are hoping to rally enough votes to override the anticipated presidential veto.

Pro-life advocates oppose the bill, saying that embryonic stem cell research involves the destruction of an embryo—which they say constitutes the taking of a human life. Some pro-life advocates, however, such . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ