The imbroglio began 11 December, when Stanford announced that an anonymous donor had provided $12 million to build the Stanford Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine Institute. In discussing the plans for the new facility, Weissman acknowledged that researchers would eventually create human embryos through nuclear transfer techniques, a procedure also known as therapeutic cloning. However, the Associated Press reported that Stanford would be “cloning human embryos,” forcing Stanford to issue a statement explaining that “creating human stem cell lines is not equivalent to human cloning,” and that the institute's plans were to create only cells, not human embryos.
On its website, Stanford claimed that the President's Council on Bioethics supported this view as well as its proposed research. But the council officially considers the work to be “cloning for biomedical research,” and Leon Kass, the council's chairman, demanded a public apology. Kass accused the school of trying to conceal the nature of stem cell research and mischaracterizing the council's views. “Stanford has decided to proceed with cloning research without public scrutiny and deliberation, and has hurt the cause of public understanding of this subject,” said Kass.
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