Stunned and disappointed officials of US President Barack Obama’s administration said on Tuesday they would appeal a US federal court ruling that temporarily barred US federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
The administration will ask the US Court of Appeals to lift the preliminary injunction issued on Monday, US Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Current research worth about US$131 million can go ahead, but research proposals being evaluated for potential funding will be “pulled out of the stack,” National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins said.
US Senator Tom Harkin, who chairs the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he was calling a hearing for today on the matter.
“This ruling should be appealed and I fully believe that it will be overturned,” Harkin said in a statement. “Embryonic stem cell research offers hope to millions of Americans who are suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases, and it must be allowed to proceed.”
Allowing federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research was one of the first acts of newly elected Obama last year, and exultant scientists applauded when he overturned predecessor George W. Bush’s limitations on the science.
Supporters of human embryonic stem cell research say it is vital to carry it out alongside other types of stem cell research to understand how to transform cells into desired tissue types and treat diseases ranging from juvenile diabetes to blindness.
Opponents say it is wrong to destroy human embryos, even days-old embryos to be discarded from fertility clinics.
In his ruling, Judge Royce Lamberth said legislation tacked onto the Health and Human Services spending authorization every year, called the Dickey-Wicker amendment, bans federal funding of all such research.
“Frankly, I was stunned, as was virtually everyone at NIH, by the judicial decision yesterday,” Collins told reporters in a telephone briefing.
“Human embryonic stem cell research, done responsibly and ethically, is one of the most exciting opportunities to come along in a long time, and in just the last year, we have made so much progress in getting this area expanded,” Collins said.
Sean Tipton of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, which supports all areas of stem cell research, said scientists would struggle to get money from private sources. States fund and encourage embryonic stem cell research, but cannot come close to matching the National Institute of Health’s purse.
“We are calling for an immediate end to Dickey-Wicker,” Tipton said in a telephone interview. “Do that and your problem is solved.”
“This could be a great outcome for research freedom and for allowing scientists instead of politicians to make decisions,” he said.
The suit was filed by two researchers who work with so-called adult stem cells, which are a different kind of stem cell found throughout the body, which are also considered promising.
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