Federal Funding Ban on Embryonic Stem Cell Research Lifted… Again

This week a federal appeals court ruled that federal funding of embryonic stem cell research can continue for the time being.

The order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit extends the temporary action of September 9 and will remain in place until the appeals court can consider the case.

The Justice Department argued that years of progress in research could be lost if the funding ban were to remain in place. The freeze on federal funding forced the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to pull 50 grants awaiting peer review and freeze 22 grants up for renewal, at least temporarily.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs released this statement:

“President Obama made expansion of stem cell research and the pursuit of groundbreaking treatments and cures a top priority when he took office. We’re heartened that the court will allow NIH and their grantees to continue moving forward while the appeal is resolved.”

Medical researchers value stem cells from embryos for their ability to morph into any cell of the body, with the potential for better treatments or even cures for diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, as well as spinal cord injuries.

In 2001, President George W. Bush issued the executive order making it illegal to use federal funds for research on new embryonic stem cell lines.

After taking office in 2009, President Obama fulfilled a campaign promise by issuing an executive order lifting the ban issued by Bush, legalizing federal funding for research on new embryonic stem cell lines.

While the political football is in play, medical research can move forward. For people waiting for potential cures, every day counts.

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Leia P.

2:48AM PDT on Oct 7, 2010

super greatness

send a green star

Merelen K.

12:27PM PDT on Oct 6, 2010

Great news! Thanks for sharing!

kate d.

1:08PM PDT on Oct 5, 2010

...and the vatican condemned the Nobel Prize in Medicine to Robert Edwards because fertilised eggs are destroyed in in vitro fertilisation...yet he provided the means for millions of women to have babies that they wouldn't otherwise have had...what are these people thinking ...?

Melissah C.

8:25PM PDT on Oct 4, 2010

thanks

kenneth m.

8:19PM PDT on Oct 3, 2010

go cells

10:38AM PDT on Oct 3, 2010

Common sense prevails...

Walter G.

7:57PM PDT on Oct 2, 2010

There is no argument that stem cells will eventually triumph over superstition. With the huge fortunes amassed by the medical-pharmaceutical complex, why do they need government money? The other aspect is that if you can't get treatment in the US because the lawmakers have banned it, you can always, at your own risk, of course, follow the treatment to its source. IN that case our medical and pharmaceutical money grabbers just cut off their noses to spite their faces.

Julianna D.

12:57PM PDT on Oct 2, 2010

I'm all for this- never waste what you can use, especially if it can save lives.

Tracy C.

11:40AM PDT on Oct 2, 2010

I just don't trust it. Every time we come close to some kind of treatment, something happens. It's just another excuse to slaughter unborn babies. I have nothing against science, but you can bet if someone came up with the cure for cancer, that someone would disappear, as would the cure.

Geynell E.

5:34PM PDT on Oct 1, 2010

Conservatives hate all science. Climate science interferes with their greed. Medical science (and biologic evolution) interfere with their stone-age religious ideology. But mostly they hate science because they are too stupid to understand it.