The Boston Herald reports that Mitt Romney's blind trust, set up in 2002, has stock in two companies using human embryos for research, Millipore and Novo Nordisk. An honorable person with true convictions on human life issues would not have allowed such companies in his portfolio.
Mitt owns stock in stem cell research (8-15-07)
Despite his “pro-life” campaign pitch, former Gov. Mitt Romney owns stock in two companies involved in embryonic stem cell research, a controversial field of study he previously cited as the reason for his rightward shift on abortion. Romney holds stock in the biomedical firms Novo Nordisk and Millipore Corp., both of which use human embryos to research cures for chronic diseases, records show. Many conservatives fiercely oppose the research because it destroys the embryos in the process. . . .
Romney’s assets are held in a blind trust created after he was elected governor in late 2002. The manager of that trust, Brad Malt of the law firm Ropes & Gray, said Romney had no way of knowing how his funds were invested. “He lost that ability once the trust was created,” he said.
While many candidates sell stocks held in blind trust because of potential political problems, Romney did not do so before he launched his bid for the presidency. Candidates also can set restrictions on their investments when a blind trust is created, but Malt said Romney did not take that step in 2002.
