Thread: Judge stops federal funding of embryonic stem cell research

I hadn't heard about this. Very unfortunate. Hope the ruling does not stand up.

I don't understand why anyone would want to stop stem cell research?

Me either.

The big deal is that there are a lot of nuts who think that a baby is being killed by stem cell research. What they fail to realize is that many more embryos are destroyed each year just getting rid of them. But that's a fact that they conveniently ignore.

Originally Posted by Prince

I don't understand why anyone would want to stop stem cell research?

Pharmaceutical companies would eventually go out of business.... well,... lose money rather.


...hence the reason we STILL have not found a cure for AIDS/HIV, Cancer, etc etc. More money to be made on treatments and shit, for crap we cant cure.

I'm getting sick of how much fucking power judges have to knock down anything and everything they feel like

Originally Posted by Prince

I don't understand why anyone would want to stop stem cell research?

One word: Christians!

Originally Posted by Prince

I don't understand why anyone would want to stop stem cell research?

It's the same bunch of shit eating little turds who thing abortion should be illegal.

Originally Posted by SYN

It's the same bunch of shit eating little turds who thing abortion should be illegal.

Agreed.

guys. really? if you want it changed call up your congressman and get the Dickey-Wicker Amendment excluded from federal spending bills. the judge just followed the law. spending bills are passed by congress and the president signs them. if anything president obamas guidelines went against spending bills passed by a democrat party controlled congress that he signed. this is hardly a case of judicial legislation.

Personally I'm for stem cell research. I think it holds a lot of medical potential. I do admit that i don't know enough about it or the process required and I allow that there might be moral/ethical questions raised when dealing with fertilized eggs.

I find this a separate issue from abortion. a fertilized egg in a mothers womb is different than in a test tube in my mind. but this may go back to my lack of knowledge on the process on this topic. a womans right to choose is stupid bull shit semantics. other than rape, or danger to the mother/child she made the choice with her body when she conceived the child. abortion is murder.

Conservative politics is behind this, not rational thought. Scientists are for this research, and so am I. The same people are behind the right-to-life lobby. Judge was appointed by Reagan. By the way, stem cell research guidelines were passed under the Bush administration. Get your facts straight. Well, anyone who believes in rhetoric like abortion is murder is not too interested in facts. Can't have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.

Originally Posted by MDR

Conservative politics is behind this, not rational thought. Scientists are for this research, and so am I. The same people are behind the right-to-life lobby. Judge was appointed by Reagan. By the way, stem cell research guidelines were passed under the Bush administration. Get your facts straight. Well, anyone who believes in rhetoric like abortion is murder is not too interested in facts. Can't have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.

did you read this article at all? I've addressed everyone of your issues already. but ill try and make it clearer for you so you can understand. if you need simple drawings to understand concepts then i can't help you because im not much of an artist.

liberal congress, liberal president passed legislation saying federal dollars can't be used for stem cell research. this legislation that our liberal congress passed and our liberal president signed is now law, and as such is in force over executive guidelines. how are you not getting this?

I am a scientist. I am for this research. I've already said that. is reading comprehension that difficult for you?

stem cell guidelines passed under the bush administration were in effect until the obama administration changed them. which is his right to do, and would be in effect except for the legislation he signed into law saying no federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research. again, did you even read the article?

the answer as I've already said is to call your congressman and have him vote for a federal spending bill without that amendment attached to it. meaning president obamas new guidelines could be used. how are you so dense to not understand this the first time?

Obama administration issued guidelines to ALLOW federal money to be used for stem cell research, not prevent it's use. Try reading the article again, very slowly this time. It's ok if your lips move. Just a hint-it's stated clearly in the first sentence. Again in the third. Glad to hear that you are for this research.

Originally Posted by MDR

Obama administration issued guidelines to ALLOW federal money to be used for stem cell research, not prevent it's use. Try reading the article again, very slowly this time. It's ok if your lips move. Just a hint-it's stated clearly in the first sentence. Again in the third. Glad to hear that you are for this research.

are you insane? when did i ever say that obama issued guidelines to prevent federal money being used for ESC? President obama's guidelines for using federal money for embryonic stem cell research goes against legislation passed by congress that he signed. this is what the judge ruled. if this is not clear enough for you then i am incapable of explaining it to you and i hope you seek help for reading comprehension. I am unable to use smaller words than i have already used to make it easier for you.

You are a moron. Study up on the issue and get back to me when you have a clue. The Obama administration passed legislation allowing federal money to be spent that the Bush administration put limits upon. The judge is splitting hairs over the issue of what constitutes an embryo. Some scientist you are.

Lamberth's ruling said all embryonic stem cell research involves destroying embryos, which violates the Dickey-Wicker Amendment included in federal spending bills.
"The Dickey-Wicker Amendment unambiguously prohibits the use of federal funds for all research in which a human embryo is destroyed," Lamberth's ruling said. "It is not limited to prohibit federal funding of only the 'piece of research' in which an embryo is destroyed. Thus, if ESC [embryonic stem cell] research is research in which an embryo is destroyed, the guidelines, by funding ESC research, violate the Dickey-Wicker Amendment."

it doesn't get more plain than that. I'm sorry that your views have blinded you to understanding simple concepts. I want stem cell research. i don't have a problem with the federal government using federal money to fund research in this area. it sucks that you are part of the reason we don't have it. you want it, yet you lash out blindly to the point you push people into the opposition.

This is why the moderate middle is divorcing itself from politics and letting the looney left and the radical right fight. you idiots can't hear anything above your own stupid ass yelling. my original post in this thread said i am for stem cell research and yet you went on an attack. you really are a bone head

Originally Posted by bio-chem

Lamberth's ruling said all embryonic stem cell research involves destroying embryos, which violates the Dickey-Wicker Amendment included in federal spending bills.
"The Dickey-Wicker Amendment unambiguously prohibits the use of federal funds for all research in which a human embryo is destroyed," Lamberth's ruling said. "It is not limited to prohibit federal funding of only the 'piece of research' in which an embryo is destroyed. Thus, if ESC [embryonic stem cell] research is research in which an embryo is destroyed, the guidelines, by funding ESC research, violate the Dickey-Wicker Amendment."

it doesn't get more plain than that. I'm sorry that your views have blinded you to understanding simple concepts. I want stem cell research. i don't have a problem with the federal government using federal money to fund research in this area. it sucks that you are part of the reason we don't have it. you want it, yet you lash out blindly to the point you push people into the opposition.

This is why the moderate middle is divorcing itself from politics and letting the looney left and the radical right fight. you idiots can't hear anything above your own stupid ass yelling. my original post in this thread said i am for stem cell research and yet you went on an attack. you really are a bone head

I'm not blinded by anything, just pointing out that the judge is incorrect in his interpretation if the amendment, and is simply playing politics. I just think your interpretation of things is just as misguided. Just to be clear, you are the one who attacked, I simply pointed out that you misstated the facts, and used vitriolic language meant to inflame and provoke rather than to explain anything. If you go around stating that abortion is murder, don't be surprised when people react.

Obama administration to appeal stem cell injunction
By Jeremy Pelofsky and James Vicini

WASHINGTON Aug 24 (Reuters) - The Obama administration will appeal a judge's ruling that temporarily barred federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

The administration will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to lift the preliminary injunction which was issued on Monday, Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued the injunction after determining that the two doctors who challenged the administration's policy would likely succeed because U.S. law blocked federal funding of embryonic stem cell research that involved destroying embryos.

The White House said it was exploring "all possible avenues" to ensure such research could continue.

"The president said very plainly when he laid out his stem cell policy that this is important, potentially life-saving research that could have an impact on millions of Americans and people all around the world," White House deputy spokesman Bill Burton told reporters in Massachusetts, where President Barack Obama is on vacation.

"He thinks that we need to do research. He put forward stringent ethical guidelines and he thinks that his policy is the right one," Burton said.

In 2001, then-President George W. Bush said he could only allow federal research money to pay for work done using a few batches of the powerful cells, which can give rise to all the tissues and cells in the human body.

Obama reversed Bush's stand with an executive order in 2009. Burton said the injunction also may stop the research allowed by Bush's policy.

The appeals court has already dealt with the case once.

Judge Lamberth threw out the lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's policy last year because he did not find that the parties had the legal right to sue over it. But the appeals court in June disagreed and reinstated the case.

The doctors, who opposed embryonic stem cell research, were seeking grants to fund their work on adult stem cells and argued that the new policy on embryonic stem cells harmed their ability to win federal research money.

The injunction issued on Monday affects only federally funded research, not private research.

Embryonic stem cells come from days-old embryos and can produce any type of cell in the body. Scientists hope to be able to use them to address spinal cord injuries, cancer, diabetes and diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Opponents of human embryonic stem cell research say it is wrong, usually for religious reasons, to damage or destroy a human embryo. (Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Editing by David Storey)

I was relieved when I read this earlier today. Hopefully it will all get straightened out.

The upshot, the best basic science research is done ,not by private companies who need to show quick returns for their money to their investors, but the NIH..

All the basic research and ground work for revolutionary drugs like statins. PPIs etc were done by the NIH long before its potential by drug companies could be realized.

Embryonic/stem cell research holds a lot of promise but is far from generating profit for any single private venture at this time. Thus, incredibly smart scientists who are doing research for the sake of it cannot get any federal funding and are fleeing in droves. I did molecular biology research a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory ( home of over 50 nobel prize winners) , many of the brightest knew this was the field to go in, so they fled to europe and china.

We are tying basic research scientist's hands behind their backs. We are losing ground on the future of almost all medicine ( from diabetes management, obesity management, neurological degenerative disorders, cancer cures etc). We continue our back slide as we make it even less desirable for basic research scientists to continue working in this country.

Almost all medical scientists look on any research funded by private entities with great skepticism since we know they have vested interest in withholding "negative" data and inflating positive data. We prefer to see NIH sponsered research in all fields of medicine and it is no different with stem cell research.

(NIH= Federal funding by the way)