WASHINGTON — President Bush vowed Friday to use the first veto of his presidency to stop Congress from expanding government-funded embryonic stem cell research, pledging to uphold a line he had already drawn against science that "destroys life in order to save life."
The president's threat aimed to stop the momentum of a measure that could pass the Republican-led House as early as Tuesday and has broad support in the Senate.
The statement reflected White House concern that the president was being thrust into a dispute that pits the bulk of public opinion, which is moving increasingly in favor of expanding such research, against the views of Bush's socially conservative base, which believes the research is immoral because embryos are destroyed.
"I made it very clear to the Congress that the use of federal money, taxpayers' money, to promote science which destroys life in order to save life -- I'm against that," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office. "And therefore, if the bill does that, I will veto it."
Stem cells taken from embryos have drawn broad interest because they are thought to be able to grow into any type of cell in the body. Researchers hope to learn how to grow them into replacements for the cells or tissues that are faulty in juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's disease and other ailments.
Bush also criticized a research development in South Korea, announced Thursday, in which scientists produced embryonic clones of 11 patients and then extracted stem cells from the embryos. The researchers said the embryos did not have the ability to develop into babies and were produced only to harvest stem cells after five days.
Through cloning, they aimed to produce cells that were a genetic match for the patients, reducing the risk of tissue rejection or other complications.
Nonetheless, the South Korean development reignited the debate over the use of cloning in stem cell research. One concern is that further development of cloning technology could lead to the ability to produce cloned children.
"I'm very concerned about cloning," Bush said. "I worry about a world in which cloning becomes acceptable."
Friday's events underscored the politically challenging nature of an issue that has simmered since Bush's first months in office, when he struggled to reconcile the needs of patients seeking cures with ethics concerns about destroying human embryos.
