BOSTON (Reuters):

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, said last Thursday his administration's new restrictions on stem-cell research are aimed at heading off an 'Orwellian' future.

The state's Department of Public Health this week issued regulations banning the creation of embryos for research purposes. Scientists say stem-cell research could lead to breakthroughs in treatments for diseases including cancer. But the issue has become ethically and politically volatile because extracting the cells entails destruction of an embryo.