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Appeals court lifts ban on federal funding for stem cell research
By Bill Mears, CNN Senior Producer
UPDATED: 12:46 PM EDT 04.29.11
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 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.
From CNN.com
By Bill Mears, CNN Senior Producer
UPDATED: 12:46 PM EDT 04.29.11
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 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.
From CNN.com
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