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Associated Press - June 11, 2001 Stem Cell Research Debated By LAURA MECKLER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP)--Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson is looking for a compromise on the thorny issue of whether to allow federal financing of promising research that uses stem cells derived from embryos. Thompson and President Bush ``hope to come to a place that is a unifying position,'' HHS spokesman Campbell Gardett said Monday. Thompson, who has praised groundbreaking stem cell research being conducted in his home state of Wisconsin, has also suggested that he is troubled by a federal law that some say prohibits HHS from paying for it. Congress has barred federal money for research that destroys embryos, but the Clinton administration concluded that the National Institutes of Health could pay for research using cells that had been extracted with private money. Stem cells are building blocks for all human tissue. The most useful cells are derived from embryos discarded at fertility clinics, and some abortion opponents say it is wrong to use them for research. Research proponents say the embryos are being destroyed anyway and that using them could lead to revolutionary treatments for Alzheimer's, diabetes and other diseases. The devisive debate has dogged Thompson since his confirmation hearings earlier this year. Asked about the issue during an interview Monday with The Washington Post, Thompson said he was looking for a compromise that would allow the research to continue ``with some modifications.'' ``We're looking at the legal implications of it, the ethical questions and of course the political questions and the scientific ones,'' he told the Post, according to an account posted on the newspaper's Web site. Asked about possible compromise approaches, Thompson said: ``Everything is on the table.'' He promised a decision by late June or early July. Spokesman Gardett emphasized that the secretary did not commit himself to any course of action. ``There's a lot of real, tremendous successes that can be had with stem cell research,'' Thompson told the Post. ``We have to decide, first of all, whether the law allows any kind of federal dollars to go into stem cells that are derived from an embryo. That's a big question because the law is fairly specific. ``Second thing, there are some ethical questions, and some scientific questions. I am fairly confident that we will come up with a plan that takes all of these matters into consideration.'' AP-NY-06-11-01 2336EDT http://www.accesswaco.com/shared/news/ap/ap_story.html/Washington/AP.V7280.AP-Thompson-Stem-C.html ******** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn