A move is afoot in Congress to change the direction of the National Institutes of Health to more valuable and humane research projects.

Under the direction of Dr. Francis Collins, NIH has directed millions of dollars toward research on human embryos.

David Prentice of the Charlotte Lozier Institute tells OneNewsNow that Congressmen Jim Banks and Dan Lipinski have introduced the Patients First Act to change the agency's course.

The whole point of the bill," says Prentice, "is to prioritize NIH funding for adult stem cells that are going to be able to help patients, first, in the near term, be able to get them into the clinic and help these people. And that, again, is adult stem cells, not embryonic stem cells."

Dr. Collins is famous for leading the decade-long Human Genome Project, which mapped DNA sequences.

Once an atheist, Collins is also known for being an outspoken Christian in the scientific community, where faith is often mocked and dismissed. Yet the embryonic research at NIH has caused disappointment among pro-life activists, and some have called for his firing at NIH.

The proposed legislation could mean hundreds of millions of dollars would be directed toward adult stem cells, which are already being used to treat medical conditions for an estimated 1.5 million patients around the world.

Shifting research to stem cells is going to help patients, not just mean playing in the laboratory, which is what happens with embryonic stem cells as well as fetal tissue and fetal stem cells, Prentice adds. Embryonic and fetal stem cells have been failures.

Prentice says the latter forms of research are unethical, so instead the money could be spent to accelerate research on something of proven value.

Charlotte Lozier Institute would also like to see bills dealing with other ethical concerns at NIH including animal/human hybrids and research using aborted baby tissue.

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Congressmen seek pro-life focus at NIH - OneNewsNow