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The following news item appeared on SCIENCE-WEEK,7/3/97, a free weekly report sent from:<[log in to unmask]>. LEGISLATORS ANGRY AT POSSIBLE NIH-FUNDED EMBRYO RESEARCH Harold Varmus, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), evidently had a difficult time before a Congressional investigating committee on June 19th. The issue was the ban by the U.S. Congress of NIH-funded embryo research. An established researcher, Mark Hughes, apparently used NIH facilities while pursuing his investigations of disease-causing mutations in DNA extracted from single cells from embryos created by in vitro fertilization techniques. Evidently Varmus and Hughes cannot agree whether Hughes knew his research was proscribed, and NIH has severed its connection with Hughes. Meanwhile, the Congressional subcommittee has warned Varmus to enforce the rules concerning embryo research more strictly. (Science 27 June) Does anyone know what the U.S. government rules are regarding Embryo Research and what types of this research are proscribed? Aliza Lieberman <[log in to unmask]>