Court throws out stem cell ban!

Finally some sanity and yet another feather in the cap of President Obama.  The ridiculous ideologically based decision by the Bush Regime to ban stem cells has been overturned by a federal judge with good sense.  Now, perhaps, after the inevitable challenges, science can move forward with their work of finding cures for some terrible diseases.

Here is the story from the WSJ:

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the federal government can continue to fund research involving human embryonic stem cells, a significant legal victory for the Obama administration.

The divided ruling, by the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, overturned a trial judge’s surprise ruling in 2010 that barred funding for the research.

The appeals court, in a 21-page decision, said the National Institutes of Health reasonably concluded that government funding for embryonic stem-cell research isn’t prohibited by a 1996 law that bars the use of federal money for research in which an embryo is destroyed.

The court’s majority also agreed with the Obama administration’s arguments that barring the funding would be a substantial blow to embryonic stem-cell research by blocking new projects and undermining existing ones.

The court said researchers’ “investments in project planning would be a loss, their expenditures for equipment a waste, and their staffs out of a job.”

One of President Barack Obama’s first acts on science policy after taking office was to take down barriers to stem-cell research set up by President George W. Bush in August 2001. While Mr. Bush had limited research on embryonic stem cells to a small number of then-existing cell lines, Mr. Obama in March 2009 opened up federal funding more broadly.

Stem cells are the building blocks of the body’s tissues and organs. Those derived from embryos can develop into any type of tissue and are considered especially promising for research, though their use is controversial. Opponents say destroying an embryo to get the cells amounts to taking a human life.

Friday’s ruling is the latest chapter in a case that has made headlines since August 2010 when U.S. Chief District Court Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington issued a preliminary injunction that halted government funding for the research.

Judge Lamberth had rejected the Obama administration’s argument that embryonic stem-cell research itself didn’t result in the destruction of embryos.

Stem-cell funding has continued in recent months because the appeals court had stayed Judge Lamberth’s injunction while it considered the case.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, scientists James Sherley and Theresa Deisher, contended that Mr. Obama’s loosening of embryonic stem-cell funding rules had unfairly diverted money away from adult stem-cell research, their specialty.

Happy

0 0 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %