Stem Cell Research-Look Who's Stepping In!

[Annie]

First Lady Bashes Kerry Stem Cell Stance​

Yahoo!

LANGHORNE, Pa. - First lady Laura Bush defended her husband's policy on embryonic stem cell research Monday, calling Democratic rival John Kerry (news - web sites)'s criticism "ridiculous" and accusing proponents of overstating the potential for medical breakthroughs.

"We don't even know that stem cell research will provide cures for anything — much less that it's very close" to yielding major advances, Bush said.

The first lady weighed in on the highly charged political and scientific issue on the third anniversary of Bush's decision to limit federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to only the 78 stem cell lines in existence Aug. 9, 2001.

Religious groups oppose the scientific work in which culling of stem cells kill the embryos, equating that with abortion, and had urged Bush not to be the first president to fund the research — even with limits.

Proponents of the science, including former first lady Nancy Reagan and 58 Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, argue that it could lead to cures to diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer's. Former President Reagan suffered from the latter for a decade before his death June 5 due to related pneumonia.