 |
 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Senate Rejects Reinstatement Of Fetal Tissue Research Funding Ban ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON, Sep 05 (Reuters) - The Senate Thursday rejected an attempt by antiabortion lawmakers to reinstate a portion of a ban on research that uses tissue from aborted fetuses. That ban was lifted by President Clinton and Congress in 1993. By a vote of 60-38, senators defeated an amendment that would have denied federal funding of Parkinson's disease research that uses tissue derived from induced abortions. The debate was the first revival of the fetal tissue fight that blocked passage of the authorization bill for the National Institutes of Health during the administration of President Bush. Congress in 1992 voted to rescind a ban originally imposed during the Reagan administration, but was unable to override Bush's veto of the measure. President Clinton lifted the funding ban by executive order soon after he took office in 1993, and Congress later that year formally endorsed his actions as part of a broader NIH bill, also adding safeguards to ensure that fetal tissue could not be bought or sold, and that women would not be allowed to make "directed" donations. On Wednesday night, during debate on the annual spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services, some senators adopted an amendment [Udall Bill] that would allow NIH to spend up to $100 million more on Parkinson's Disease research and abortion opponents sought to limit that spending. Supporters of fetal tissue research argued that no good case has been made against it during the four years in which is has been federally funded. "Since 1993, the NIH has awarded more than $23 million in grants for research involving the study, analysis, and use of human fetal tissue," Senator Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, said. "The research that is being carried out today is producing effective solutions that can end the suffering associated with a wide variety of illnesses, and it makes no sense, no sense at all, to restrict it." Westport Newsroom 203 319 2700 Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. <http://www.reutershealth.com/news/docs/199709/19970905lea.html> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask]