Court reverses US funding ban on embryonic stem cells

Peter Aldhous, San Francisco bureau chief

US government cash for research on human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) is safe for now, thanks to a ruling by judges sitting in the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC.
Last August, a lower court granted an injunction blocking new grants to hESC research. The ruling came in response to a suit brought by two scientists who claim that President Barack Obama's policy to widen funding for the research is illegal.
The injunction caught scientists and the US National Institutes of Health by surprise, and was based on a controversial interpretation of a law called the temporarily lifted the injunction back in September. Today's appeals court decision, made by a 2-1 majority, overturns the injunction. On behalf of the majority, Justice Douglas Ginsburg wrote:

"We conclude the plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail because Dickey-Wicker is ambiguous and the NIH seems reasonably to have concluded that, although Dickey-Wicker bars funding for the destructive act of deriving an ESC from an embryo, it does not prohibit funding a research project in which an ESC will be used. We therefore vacate the preliminary injunction."

However the case brought by the two scientists, James Sherley of the Boston Biomedical Research Institute in Watertown, Massachusetts, and Theresa Deisher of AVM Biotechnology in Seattle, is not over and could go all the way to the Supreme Court. Both scientists oppose research on hESCs on moral grounds and argue that an expansion of funding for this work threatens their own ability to obtain grants for research on adult stem cells.
Rounding up reactions to today's news, USA Today led with Lisa Hughes, president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research:

"This is a victory for patients all across America, and sends a message that frivolous attacks on important biomedical research will not be tolerated."

NIH director Francis Collins was similarly pleased, releasing the following statement:

"I am delighted and relieved to learn of the decision of the Court of Appeals. This is a momentous day – not only for science, but for the hopes of thousands of patients and their families who are relying on NIH-funded scientists to pursue life-saving discoveries and therapies that could come from stem cell research."

However, in a statement emailed to reporters, Alan Trounson, president of the San Francisco-based California Institute for Regenerative Medicine – itself a major funder of research on hESCs – warned supporters of the research not to get carried away:

"The fight for embryonic stem cell research in the United States is not over. While this recent Court of Appeals decision is very welcome, it is simply one step towards US researchers being able to feel that they can proceed with this groundbreaking research."

On the other side of the debate, David Prentice of the Family Research Council vowed to continue its opposition:

"We believe that further court decisions will support Congressional protections of young human life and divert federal funds toward lifesaving adult stem cells."

 Courtesy of New Scientist