Credit: Wikimedia/Nissim Benvenisty
WASHINGTON: A court issued a temporary halt to federal funding of embryonic stem cell research which U.S. President Barack Obama had authorised, saying it involved the destruction of human embryos.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled in favour of a Christian group that opposes the research, issuing a temporary injunction that will allow plaintiffs to bring their lawsuit before the court.
"Plaintiffs have demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits," Lamberth said. "ESC (embryonic stem cell) research is clearly research in which an embryo is destroyed," the ruling said.
Progress stifled
"To conduct ESC research, ESCs must be derived from an embryo. The process of deriving ESCs from an embryo results in the destruction of the embryo."
"Thus ESC research necessarily depends upon the destruction of a human embryo," he added.
In March, Obama lifted a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, lauding potential medical breakthroughs and a new era for U.S. science shorn of political ideology.
Stem cells best chance for breakthrough
The president's executive order reversed predecessor George W. Bush's ban, which critics say hampered the fight to find treatments for grave diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes.
Many researchers believe that stem cells, so-called because they are the foundation or base for all human cells, provide the best chance for a breakthrough in the fight some of the most serious human diseases.
Scientists believe they may be able to transform the foundational cells into cardiac, pancreatic or brain cells to replace damaged or infected cells and allow tissue or organs to reconstitute themselves.
In the hands of the court
But the research is fiercely opposed by religious conservatives who believe that life begins at conception because it involves the disposal of embryos.
The Justice Department said it was "reviewing the judge's decision."
The administration could choose to appeal the temporary injunction, or alternatively wait until the lawsuit is argued in court.
Poor summary; this research is AGAINST federal LAW
This court case has nothing really to do with Bush's executive order. This article is missing the MOST important detail about this case. FEDERAL LAW does not allow this type of research that destroys embryos. So, the current case has to do with whether or not a President's executive order can SUPERSEDE federal law. Courts have always ruled that Congress's Laws trump a Presidential executive order. Per various news reports, the Dickey-Wicker amendment has been attached to our annual appropriations bills every year since 1996. This amendment explicitly forbids the destruction of human embryos. Those who want this research to occur need to advocate changing the law through Congressional action, not slanting articles to make the Christians look mean-spirited. Currently, the law is solidly on their side of this issue, and President Obama (or his staff) should have KNOWN his executive order would NOT stand up under legal challenge.