The White House, its ethics adviser and Catholic groups have made it clear that they are unlikely to sign off on a new procedure to create embryonic stem cell lines without destroying embryos. Advanced Cell Technology created an enormous stir earlier this week when it announced that it could take a single cell from a tiny embryo and use it to create new stem cell lines. The company hoped that this would allow more federal funding to start to flow. But the act of interfering with an embryo just days old is still cause for considerable alarm in conservative circles. "The problem is that the researchers are subjecting a human being to risks without any advantage to that individual," says Edward Furton, staff ethicist of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia.
- here's the report on stem cells from Time