Bush faces stem cell pressure

looks set to come under increasing challenge this fall as a senior Republican, the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, said this summer he would support legislation to remove some of the administration's limitations on such research. The move is likely to result in a showdown between the president and the Senate. Frist, a heart and lung transplant surgeon, and a close ally of the president, had previously said he supported the White House policy of limiting stem cell research. But in a lengthy speech in the Senate, Frist said that while he still had reservations, he now supported a bill passed in the House of Representatives in June to expand funding. " While human embryonic stem cell research is still at a very early stage, the limitations put in place in 2001 will, over time, slow our ability to [create] potential new treatments for certain diseases, " he said. " Therefore I believe the president's policy should be modified. " Frist's move comes as legislators in a growing number of states are seeking to introduce means of support for human embryonic stem cell research but face a range of opposition tactics aiming to defeat any such moves. Bush claims the research destroys life because embryos are destroyed in the process. But supporters point out that there are embryos in fertility clinics that would be discarded and never used to make babies, but could be used for research purposes. But Christian conservatives are vehemently against human embryonic stem cell research, which they liken to abortion. " I am pro-life, " Frist said in his speech, arguing that he could reconcile his support for the science with his own Christian faith. " I believe human life begins at conception. " The stem cell research bill has been stalled in the Senate, but commentators predicted that other Republicans who had been wary of supporting it may now feel they have licence to do so. But if the Senate does pass the legislation it could result in Bush using his veto for the first time. Supporters of stem cell research were elated by Frist's backing for the bill. " This is critically important, " Larry Soler, a lobbyist for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, told the New York Times. He " is confirming the potential of embryonic stem cell research and the need to expand the policy. " The Democratic senator Edward Kennedy said: …