President Bush vetoed for the second time legislation that would federally fund stem cell research. “Compelling American taxpayers to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos would be a grave mistake,” Bush said Wednesday in vetoing a bill that had wall-to-wall Jewish support. “I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line.” Bush instead ordered the National Institutes of Health to come up with a plan within 90 days to explore alternative stem-cell based cures for chronic illnesses. Hadassah, which led lobbying for embryonic stem cell funding expressed “deep disappointment” in the veto. “The millions of Americans with chronic, intractable diseases deserve a more activist approach from our government in pursuit of potential cures,” said June Walker, Hadassah’s president.
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