A U.S. district court today slapped down President Obama’s order to ignore federal law banning federal tax-funding of destructive human embryonic research.
Judge Royce Lamberth granted the injunction after finding that the federal lawsuit –filed by researchers whose work uses non-embryonic stem cells– would likely succeed.
The lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health argues that the Obama/NIH guidelines violate the 1996 ban against tax-funded embryo destruction,
and effectually take funds from researchers seeking to work with adult stem cells.
UPDATE Aug 25: The Obama administration announced today it will appeal the decision while Colorado Democrat Congresswoman Diane DeGette who had filed legislation intended to codify Obama’s executive order says she plans to push to make such funding law before a predictably more conservative new Congress is elected. Media misreports the effect on current research.
In July 2009, Obama’s NIH policy went into effect, overturning the protections President Bush put in place to protect taxpayers from having to fund stem cell research that destroys human life.
Despite the wailing about this ruling, privately-funded human embryonic experimentation continues. UPDATE Aug. 27: Poll: 57% of Americans Oppose Tax Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research
The researchers who were granted standing to sue have been involved in non-embryonic research and have applied for NIH grants.
Their suit claims the government “dismissed or ignored substantial scientific research that demonstrates that adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (“iPSCs”) provide ethically and medically superior alternatives.” Read the updates about such promising non-embryonic stem cell research for
- bone repair,
- Parkinson’s Disease,
- deadly juvenile skin disease,
- spinal cord injuries, including actual human trials.
The Obama administration could appeal today’s decision or try to rewrite the guidelines to comply with U.S. law. However, it seems the latter is an impossible task, since, as reported by Lifenews.com, Obama’s “attempt to avoid Congress’s command by funding everything but the act of ‘harvesting’ is pure sophistry.”
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