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NIH Orders Halt To Embryonic Stem Cell Research
sciencehabit writes "Responding to a court order issued a week ago, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Friday ordered intramural researchers studying human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to shut down their experiments. NIH's action — probably unprecedented in its history — is a response to a preliminary injunction on 23 August from US District Judge Royce Lamberth. The judge ruled that the Obama policy allowing NIH funding to be used to study hESC lines violates a law prohibiting the use of federal funds to destroy embryos."
The ruling applies to cell lines derived from more recent embryos -- they're already destroyed and would have been anyway, but the cell lines are already harvested. It's a strange ruling since it doesn't prevent any new embryo destruction (and wouldn't anyway, since they're excess IVF embryos and are headed for the biowaste system either way.)
Nope. The Court has ruled. Unless and until a higher court reverses the ruling, it's binding.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
For effective stem cell therapy, you need to use your own stem cells. Those would only be available if you saved some at birth (there are companies that offer to freeze and store umbilical cord blood on the off chance that someday it might be useful.) But for most people alive now, adult cells would need to be used.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Why is everyone making a big stink about embryonic stell research anyways? Adult stem cell research appears to show a lot more promise and doesn't have all the abortion political baggage tied to it. I don't understand the Obama Administration's stance on this; they spend a lot of political capital on a science that is decades away from producing anything real when a comparable science, Adult Stem Cell research, could be supported without expending almost any political capital.
Funny you should ask -- that's approximately the reasoning that the government used in the court case to try to say it was legal. Basically, they said "We're not funding the destruction, we're just funding all of the other activities that constitute research." The judge wasn't buying it -- the statute doesn't say "Federal money cannot be used to destroy embryos." It says (approximately) "Federal money cannot be used to fund research in which embryos are destroyed." And, under the relevant regulations, "research" was defined as the entire end-to-end process. In case anybody thinks this was an out-of-control judge on a philosophical bent, I'll note that this was the second time he heard the case -- the first time, he dismissed it because he didn't think the people suing had standing to sue. It was only after they appealed and WON that he decided to grant the preliminary injunction.
Riiight... which is why the Catholic Church is such a proponent of IVF.
Oh wait -- that's in Bizarro land.
As far as fertility drugs, they're apparently generally fine with them -- simply cautioning that large multiple pregnancies put both mother and infants at risk.
Sorry to burst your bubble but some of these "arrogant and self centered" folk are more consistent than you think. (And I would think on at least the "arrogant" front that there's a little speech about not worrying about the mote in your neighbor's eye....)
The Nazis took great leaps forward in science and medicine, but look who they experimented on in the process. I'm just saying...
Scientific research != being a Nazi.
Just sayin'.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
I heard you like "Candy" and "Ice Cream". Just substitute "Penis" for "Ice Cream" and you will see why substituting something only tangentially similar to something else in a sentence is a bad idea.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Actually, when it comes to stem cell research, they'll never have a cerebral cortex. That's 'cause the stem cells are left over from IVF treatment. Abortion only enters the picture because the anti-abortion people have decided to make stem cell research part of their cause, not because the stem cells are connected to abortions.
This is a lawsuit that cites Federal statutory law which Obama signed .