The Nation - News from Sept. 16, 1988

Secretary of Health and Human Services Otis R. Bowen said that, despite a White House letter seeking rapid action, he will not impose new curbs on human fetal tissue research until after department advisory groups make final recommendations late this year. A National Institutes of Health advisory committee has been meeting this week to consider the ethical, legal and scientific issues associated with conducting medical research using fetal tissue. It is expected to produce draft guidelines in December. The issue has become entangled in disputes over abortion. In a letter last week, White House domestic policy adviser Gary L. Bauer sent Bowen a proposed executive order that would ban federally funded research from using fetal tissues obtained from induced abortions.