stem cell research ban lifted

[dragon]

Well unless they take it to the Supreme court.

Washington (CNN) -- A federal court has given the Obama administration the go-ahead to continue funding embryonic stem cell research.

The controversial 2-1 decision Friday is a victory for supporters of federally funded testing for a range of diseases and illnesses.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia lifted an injunction imposed last year by a federal judge, who said all embryonic stem cell research at the National Institutes of Health amounted to destruction of embryos, in violation of congressional spending laws.

Legislation passed in 1996 prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars in the creation or destruction of human embryos "for research purposes." Private money had been used to gather batches of the developing cells at U.S.-run labs. The current administration had broken with the Bush White House and issued rules in 2009 permitting those cells to be reproduced in controlled conditions and for work on them to move forward.

Obama officials have been at odds with many members of Congress over whether the the NIH research actually causes an embryo's destruction, as prohibited by the Dickey-Wicker Act.

Two scientists had brought a lawsuit to block further research. But the three-judge panel concluded in their 21-page ruling, "the plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail because Dickey-Wicker is ambiguous and the NIH seems reasonably to have concluded" that the law does not ban research using embryonic stem cells.

link

[Singular Intellect]

About fucking time political and superstitious motivated nonsense got out of the way of productive scientific research.

[Highlord Laan]

About fucking time political and superstitious motivated nonsense got out of the way of productive scientific research.

Give it time. It'll pass, and the hooting doctrinal primates will go back to being their normal, obstructionist selves.

[Eternal_Freedom]

This is great news. But most likely they'll have some massive campaign in the Bible Belt and it will get blocked somehow.

Either that or the Tea Party will kick up a fuss, the democrats will oppose them and the rest of the Republicans will support the Tea Party because....."ummmm...because we oppose the Democrats! Yeah, that must be it!"

[Teebs]

This is great news. But most likely they'll have some massive campaign in the Bible Belt and it will get blocked somehow.

Either that or the Tea Party will kick up a fuss, the democrats will oppose them and the rest of the Republicans will support the Tea Party because....."ummmm...because we oppose the Democrats! Yeah, that must be it!"

I don't know, big business must be behind stem cell research considering the opportunities for profit that it provides. So I wouldn't just assume the religious right will win.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I didn't assume they'll win, more that the religious right will kick up such a fuss that it gets delayed, redirected or whatever. At any rate, it's still good news.

[someone_else]

The case began with a lawsuit against the NIH by scientists opposed to use of embryonic stem cells, a group that seeks adoptive parents for human embryos created through in vitro fertilization, the nonprofit Christian Medical Association and others.

Now, let me understand, there are people who call themselves "scientists" when in fact they are not, that have a lawsuit against the NIH because there is a law that does what they want?
I'm missing something obvious here.

[Sute]

The case began with a lawsuit against the NIH by scientists opposed to use of embryonic stem cells, a group that seeks adoptive parents for human embryos created through in vitro fertilization, the nonprofit Christian Medical Association and others.

Now, let me understand, there are people who call themselves "scientists" when in fact they are not, that have a lawsuit against the NIH because there is a law that does what they want?
I'm missing something obvious here.

From what I've gathered, the series of events goes like this:
In 1996 Congress passed a law banning the use of taxpayer dollars to fund the creation or destruction of human embryos for research.
The NIH was getting around this by using privately raised money to gather embryonic stem cells.
In 2009, the Obama administration put out a set of rules saying that the stem cells the NIH had could be reproduced under certain circumstances.
The challengers claimed that this meant that funding the NIH was a violation of the 1996 law, in hopes of stopping the funding of the organization.
One judge sided with them, now a higher judge has sided against them.

So I think they brought the lawsuit because they thought the Obama administration was breaking the law they liked.

[SpaceMarine93]

Its about bloody time, really. I mean, what most of the American people who are so afraid of stem cells research doesn't realize is that A) After extracting from one embryo, we can replicate stem cells without destroying more embryos, and B) A single embryo's worth of stem cells, after culturing, could save thousands of lives. But they don't really care for people who are already here and dying, do they? I don't know about everyone else, but on point B alone I think that is a good bargain. And considering the fact that China's stem cells research had already gone into far more extensive medical application then America's lagged behind science, I rather think not doing stem cells research is pretty much treason.