Trump fetal tissue ethics board urges rejection of nearly all research proposals

A new advisory board, created to review the ethics of proposed fetal tissue research grants, is urging the Trump administration to block government funding for nearly all of the applications — essentially seeking to ban support for most such scientific work.

The recommendation that the National Institutes of Health withhold funds from all but one of a slate of 14 research proposals means that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who has the final say, would need to buck the will of a board he convened — and of social conservatives crucial to President Trump’s political base — for the projects to get federal support.

The board sent its advice in a report to HHS on Tuesday, less than three weeks after the announcement of its members, two-thirds of whom are outspoken opponents of abortion, fetal tissue research or both. The group has operated in secrecy, with even its own members unaware of who else was in it until the end of July, when it held a single, day-long virtual meeting, most of it closed to the public...