Thursday, July 20 2006 12:34 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: US President George W. Bush used his legislative veto for the first time, quashing a plan bitterly opposed by Christian conservative Republicans that would expand government funding for research on new human embryonic stem cells.

Bush carried out his veto threat yesterday (July 19, 2006) night, a day after the US Senate gave final approval to the bill by nearly a 2-1 margin, though just short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential veto.

The lower House of Representatives failed in its own bid to quash the presidential veto Wednesday night, falling short of the two-thirds majority and virtually guaranteeing that Bush's decision would stand.

"This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others," Bush said at a White House ceremony packed with smiling couples who adopted unwanted embryos.

"It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect. So I vetoed it," he said. Bush insisted he did not intend to hamper efforts to find new cures for diseases, pointing to more than 20 lines of stem cells that remain available for federally-backed research under a restrictive policy he adopted in 2001.

Polls show most Americans back stem-cell research, which scientists believe could yield treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's and diabetes.

Opponents of expanded federal funding object because harvesting new stem-cell lines requires destroying embryos.

At the White House, infants born under embryo adoption programme squealed and cried in the background as Bush declared to applause, "These boys and girls are not spare parts." In a Congressional election year, the Senate bill gave Bush an opportunity to polish his credentials with core voters on the religious right.

It was his first veto in more than five years as president. The House of Representatives had approved the bill last year.

An emotional debate on stem-cell research has cut across party lines. US Senate Republican majority leader Bill Frist, a key White House ally in Congress, broke with Bush over stem-cell research last year.

Frist, a medical doctor, argued Monday that the limitations will slow our ability to bring potential new treatments for certain diseases.

Bush also ignored appeals from former first lady Nancy Reagan, whose late husband Ronald Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Bush in 2001 limited federal research to 78 stem-cell lines derived from fertilized human eggs. Creating new lines would have involved the destruction of human embryos.

The Government has since admitted that many of the cell lines are contaminated, cutting the useable number to about 22.