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News -09-25-04 Stem Cells May Treat Blindness (Reuters.com) "Corporate researchers working outside controversial federal restraints said on Thursday they had engineered human stem cells that they believe could be used to repair eyes." "But President Bush restricted the use of federal funding to work on stem-cell batches that had already been created before August 9, 2001. Scientists complain these existing batches, or lines, are contaminated with animal cells used to nurture them and that there are not enough." "Stem cell biologist Irina Klimanskaya, who worked both at ACT and with stem-cell researcher Dr. Douglas Melton of Harvard, made several batches of stem cells using purely private funds." "The new batches work better than those made before 2001, said Lanza, because the technology used to make them has improved. They are not contaminated with animal viruses, and could safely be transferred directly into people, he added." " 'In fact, we would not have made this discovery if our research had been limited to the stem-cell lines approved by President Bush,' Lanza said." " 'The question is how many other important scientific or medical breakthroughs have not occurred because of the current stem-cell policy.' " 9-04