NP - Stem Cell Fumble

[David Morris]

http://news.ft.com/news/worldnews/us

Professor warns US will miss out over stem cells
By David Firn in London
Published: August 14 2001 19:39GMT

The US will miss out on the medical and economic benefits of stem cell 
research as a result of President George W. Bush's decision to restrict 
federal funding for such research, according to a leading US researcher in 
reproductive sciences who is "defecting" to the UK.

Professor Roger Pedersen, who has worked in the US for more than 30 years, 
has left the University of California in San Francisco to take up a post 
funded by the Medical Research Council at Cambridge University.

Writing for the Financial Times, Prof Pedersen said he decided to move to 
the UK because he had become increasingly frustrated by the restrictions on 
public funding for stem cell research in the US.

He said the US decision was a serious obstacle to developing new medical 
treatments. By contrast, the UK's liberal guidelines on cloning and embryo 
research as well as growing financial support for stem cell work from the 
Medical Research Council made a breakthrough much more likely.




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