Federal judge refuses to lift order blocking federal funding for stem cell research

The Associated Press: "A federal judge on Tuesday refused to lift his order blocking federal funding for some stem cell research, saying that a 'parade of horribles' predicted by federal officials would not happen. Medical researchers value stem cells because they are master cells that can turn into any tissue of the body. Research eventually could lead to cures for spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease and other ailments. The Justice Department argued in court papers last week that stopping the research could cause 'irrevocable harm to the millions of extremely sick or injured people who stand to benefit ... as well as to the defendants, the scientific community and the taxpayers who have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on such research through public funding of projects which will now be forced to shut down and, in many cases, scrapped altogether'" (Holland, 9/7).

The Washington Post: "Royce C. Lamberth, chief U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia, rejected a request by the Obama administration to lift the temporary injunction he had issued pending an appeal of the decision. But Lamberth indicated that his injunction was less restrictive than had been interpreted by the Obama administration. ... The ruling did not necessarily apply to research that had been funded under guidelines issued during the Bush administration or that had previously been 'awarded and funded,' Lamberth wrote. He also indicated that he could make a final decision on the case soon." Following Lamberth's initial order, "the National Institutes of Health announced it was suspending consideration of any new grants for such research. Any researchers who had received funding could continue their work, but their grants would not be renewed when they come up for routine review, the NIH said. As a result, hundreds of scientists across the country are scrambling to figure out how they are going to continue their research" (Stein, 9/8).

Reuters: "The Obama administration had told Lamberth scores of research projects involving hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding were affected by his injunction and more than 1,300 jobs were at risk. A Justice Department spokesman had no immediate comment. The Obama administration could file an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and ask that it lift the injunction" (9/8).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.