“Last year, the Legislature passed a law over a veto by Governor Mitt Romney to create a broad legal framework for embryonic stem cell research. The goal was to ensure that scientists at Harvard and other privately funded institutions could pursue experiments that would not be permitted under the restrictions that the Bush administration has placed on research using federal support. Legislators understood that biotechnology offers promise to millions of disease victims and will be an important part of the state’s economic future. On Tuesday, though, the state’s Public Health Council approved stem cell regulations that could put scientists at risk. To make sure couples would not feel pressured to create embryos for reasons unrelated to fertility procedures, the law prohibits couples from creating fertilized embryos for the sole purpose of ‘donating’ them to research. But the Public Health Council regulation goes beyond this to prohibit the scientists themselves from creating embryos in the lab for the purpose of ‘using’ them for research.” (08/31/06)