Bill Clinton side-stepped the issue. Here is the scoop:

In 1998, after researchers first reported the isolation of human embryonic stem cells, President Bill Clinton requested a review of the issues surrounding stem cell research by the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC), a presidentially appointed committee established to advise the federal government on bioethics issues. In September 1999, NBAC released its report, entitled Ethical Issues in Human Stem Cell Research. The report concluded that the federal government should fund research on, and the derivation of, human embryonic stem cells, provided that only embryos leftover from fertility treatments were used. It proposed that Congress carve out an exception to its embryo research ban for the derivation of embryonic stem cells.

Now, from a policy perspective: Congress spoke to this issue several years ago when Congressman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and then-Congressman Jay Dickey (R-AR) authored language that said that no NIH funds can be used for any research involving the destruction of a human embryo. President Bill Clinton signed that bill and then, shortly after that, came up with a way to get around the so-called Dickey/Wicker language simply by allowing outside researchers to destroy embryos and then move the stem cells over to NIH.

On August 23, 2000, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published Guidelines for Research Using Human Pluripotent Stem Cells for the public funding of embryonic stem cell research in the United States. The guidelines indicated that NIH would fund research using human pluripotent stem cells from early human embryos only if investigators use cells derived from frozen embryos that were created for purposes of infertility treatment and were in excess of clinical need. The guidelines also identified areas of research that were ineligible for funding and stated that no NIH funds would be used to derive pluripotent stem cells from human embryos. Finally, the guidelines outlined in detail the methods and procedures by which NIH will fund this area of research, including the establishment of a Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Review Group (HPSCRG), that would review fund.

Bush II did face the issue head-on.

A whole human (like all other mammals) develops from a single cell called a zygote, which results from an oocyte (egg) being fertilized by a single sperm. The zygote is surrounded by a strong membrane (made of glycoproteins) called the zona pellucida which the successful sperm has managed to penetrate.

The zygote undergoes cleavage, increasing the number of cells within the zona pellucida. When there are about 4-16 cells this is called the morula. When the number of cells reaches 40-150 cells, a central, fluid-filled cavity (blastocoel) forms. The zona pellucida is still present but is degenerating. This stage in the developing embryo is the blastocyst, and lasts approximately until the implantation in the uterus. The outer cells develop into the placenta.

Mullfoto of the Day

These two signs, one in New Jersey and one in Deleware along I-95. Times, as the Peter, Paul & Mary song goes, have changed.

Catchy Caption of the Day

Actual Caption:

Water vapor builds up around an U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet as it breaks the sound barrier during a fly-by near the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63).

But it struck me as one of those cone-shaped collars you put on your cat so it can't get at the stitches on ITS tail.

(US Navy/Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Chandler)