Bioethics panel replies to Clinton; Daring to discuss immortality

WASHINGTON - Princeton University President Harold Shapiro, chairman of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC), has told President Clinton that embryonic stem cell research combining genetic material from humans and animals may not pose serious ethical concerns because such stem cells probably are not embryos.

In a letter sent Friday to the White House, Shapiro said the fusion of animal and human genetic material only presents new ethical problems if the result is a viable embryo...