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Here's the latest on Bush and his failure to back stem cell research. Greg 48/35/35 From Health Care Advisory Board Website: Researchers worry that Bush might block federal stem cell funding Jan. 29-Scientific research groups are becoming "increasingly concerned" about whether President Bush will move to block federal funding for several areas of study involving embryonic stem cells and fetal tissue derived from induced abortions, the Washington Post reports. Bush has repeatedly expressed his opposition to using taxpayer funds to support either embryonic stem cell research or any experiments using tissues from induced abortions (as opposed to spontaneous abortions, or miscarriage). Bush has also stated that he is opposed to federal funding for the transplant of tissues from induced abortions into patients-a practice that has "recently begun to show promise" for individuals with Parkinson's disease. Presidents Reagan and Bush banned such transplants through executive orders, but President Clinton lifted the ban in 1993. The director of the University of Colorado School of Medicine's neuroscience center in Denver says that if funding for the transplant of tissues from induced abortions were restricted, "there would be a collapse of progress in treatments that could repair the brains of people with Parkinson's and other neurological diseases like Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's and even stroke." Bush has said that he is not opposed to all forms of stem cell and fetal tissue research, noting that he supports research performed on adult stem cells, and the use of tissue taken from spontaneous abortions. Bush's concerns Bush and other opponents of experiments using tissues derived from induced abortions are "concerned" that such research might "encourage" women to have an abortion in order to "help desperate patients" or advance medical research. According to the Post, some critics believe that the tissues are "ethically tainted." The National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, for example, says it is "against the research establishment having to collaborate with the abortion industry." In 1999, NIH allocated $20.6 million in funding for research using tissues from induced abortions; more than 135 NIH-funded projects rely "specifically" on fetal tissues (Weiss, 1/26).