HHS official vows to pursue research 'alternatives' to aborted fetal tissue

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico




By DAN DIAMOND and ADAM CANCRYN 11/16/2018 01:50 PM EST Updated 11/16/2018 02:40 PM EST

An HHS official told a key conservative lawmaker Friday the agency seeks to end the use of fetal tissue in taxpayer-funded research if it can find “adequate alternatives” — advancing the agenda of anti-abortion groups who decry the use of tissue derived from elective abortions for biomedical research.

Brett Giroir, the HHS assistant secretary of health, sent a letter to GOP Rep. Mark Meadows (N.C.) — the anti-abortion leader of the Freedom Caucus — describing the agency's plan to move forward on alternatives to fetal tissue. The National Institutes of Health currently funds more than $100 million in research that draws on fetal tissue.

In the letter, Giroir — one of the top officials involved in the agency's ongoing review of fetal tissue research — says that HHS is “fully committed to prioritizing, expanding, and accelerating efforts to develop and implement the use of these alternatives.” He also portrays HHS as "pro-life and pro-science" under the Trump administration and says the agency did too little to find alternatives to fetal tissue under previous administrations. Parts of the letter were shared with POLITICO by a source.

Scientists are alarmed by the efforts by anti-abortion groups to stymie such research, maintaining there are few alternatives to fetal tissue, which has been instrumental in developing vaccines and in researching how the Zika virus affects the brains of fetuses in utero, as well as exploring treatments for those afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s. They say the tissue would otherwise be discarded, and safeguards have been in place to ensure it is obtained and used ethically.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/16/hhs-official-abortion-tissue-alternatives-978007

[GemDigger]

1. Another rocket scientist who doesn't know what a rocket is.

I strongly believe that the scientific community would have already done so if it was possible. I cannot imagine that they find joy in what they do but are doing it for the good of the whole.

[sandensea]

2. Whut?

Put them in formaldehyde and sell them to Chumpkins?

They could get the Trump Foundation to run the scam while they're at it, for consistency.

[AZ8theist]

3. Can we please stop calling them the "Freedom" caucus??

It's the House Fascist Caucus.

[Submariner]

4. Stupid, illiterate, ignorant tea baggers running our 21st century government

How depressing.