.- President George W. Bush rejected calls yesterday from Ronald Reagan's family and others to relax restrictions on stem-cell research in order to pursue potential cures for illnesses, reported The Associated Press.
Bush, who opposes using embryos for stem-cell research, signed an executive order in August 2001, limiting federal funding for stem-cell research to the 78 embryonic stem-cell lines then in existence.
Shortly before Reagan's death, 58 senators asked Bush to relax the restrictions. The call to do so increased last week after the former president’s death.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan told AP that President Bush, “doesn't believe we should be creating life for the sole purpose of destroying life.”
