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Thursday January 4 4:19 PM ET Bush Opposes Federal Funds for Some Cell Research WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect George W. Bush's spokesman said on Thursday he opposes federal funding for fetal tissue research that uses discarded human embryos but did not say whether Bush would move to stop such research. It was unclear whether Bush actively plans to reverse National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines issued in August that would allow government researchers to use such cells from discarded embryos provided by private researchers. The use of embryonic stem cells is controversial. Opponents say using any cells from a human embryo is unethical and immoral, even if -- as is the case in the United States -- the embryos are left over from attempts at making test-tube babies for infertile couples and were destined to be thrown away. Experts believe that research using stem cells could transform medicine. The cells seem so powerful because, when taken from very early embryos, they still can become any kind of cell in the body. The hope is to direct this development so they can be used for tissue and even organ transplants. ``During the campaign president-elect Bush said that he would oppose using taxpayer funds to support fetal tissue research from induced abortions,'' Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters on Thursday. ``He said that as president he would oppose federally funded research for experimentation on embryonic stem cells that require live human embryos to be discarded or destroyed,'' he added. Current law forbids the use of federal funds to actively derive these cells from embryos. But the NIH last year released guidelines to allow federally funded scientists to use the cells if provided by private researchers. The guidelines are strict -- the cells can only be taken from embryos that were frozen and they may not be taken from any embryo created for any use other than fertility treatment. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20010104/pl/bush_cells_dc_1.html