PRESIDENT Bush鈥檚 line in the sand on stem cell research looks more likely than ever to be rubbed out. The pro-life Republican senator and Senate majority leader Bill Frist has come out in favour of stem cell research.
The former surgeon, tipped by many as a presidential candidate in 2008, said last week that restrictions on embryonic stem cell research should be relaxed 鈥渁s a matter of science鈥�.
At the moment federal money can only be spent on 22 stem cell lines derived before President Bush put a freeze on research in 2001. But these lines are of limited use. A Senate vote on a bill to allow more lines, derived from fertility clinics鈥� unwanted embryos, could take place in September.
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Frist鈥檚 conversion boosts the chances of getting the bill through, according to its sponsor, Republican senator Arlen Specter. The bill needs 67 votes to ensure the president cannot veto it.
鈥淢y analysis is that we have 62 votes, and about 15 more people who are thinking it over,鈥� Specter said on CBS television on 31 July. But even if the bill is passed, it would not allow therapeutic cloning of personalised stem cells, potentially the most exciting avenue for research.
