Embryonic stem cells were again blocked from oxygen
US court bans embryonic stem cell research
Copper news based on the materials of The New York Times: U.S. Judge Rules Against Obama's Stem Cell PolicyThe Federal Court of the District of Columbia has issued a temporary ban on state funding of most research using embryonic stem cells.
The decision taken by the court when considering the claim of a religious public organization jeopardizes dozens of scientific projects that received the right to state support after President Obama came to power.
Government funding for embryonic stem cell experiments in the United States was limited during the presidency of George W. Bush. The Bush administration banned the use of any stem cells obtained by destroying embryos in federally funded research, with the exception of a few cell lines created before 2001. The lifting of a number of restrictions on such research was one of the important points of Barack Obama's election program.
In accordance with the decree signed by Obama in March 2009, research organizations received the right to use in their experiments stem cells of embryos that remained unclaimed after in vitro fertilization procedures. Such embryos cannot be used for their intended purpose, and sooner or later they are destroyed. Scientists were still prohibited from specially creating embryos intended for destruction for research purposes.
According to the judge of the Federal Court of the District of Columbia Royce Lamberth, the distinction between the destruction of viable embryos for scientific purposes and the use of unclaimed embryos for these purposes (which are somehow intended for destruction) is meaningless. "If at least one of the stages or moments of embryonic stem cell research leads to the destruction of embryos, the entire project cannot count on federal funding," the judge concluded.
In accordance with the court's decision adopted on Monday evening, the rules for financing scientific research that have been in force for the past year and a half are canceled until additional court decisions are made. This means that from now on, research organizations lose the right to use equipment, facilities and personnel funded from federal funds in conducting and maintaining most stem cell research.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a public organization dedicated to protecting the interests of adherents of various Christian denominations in the United States, has filed a lawsuit to repeal the new rules for financing stem cell research introduced by the Obama administration.
Judge Lambert's decision provoked panic in a number of US scientific institutions. In particular, the director of the stem cell transplantation program at the Boston Children's Hospital, George Q. Daley, said that he had to warn his subordinates about the inadmissibility of using equipment purchased at public expense when working with embryonic cells. In turn, Irving L. Weissman, director of the Stanford Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, said that the court's decision could bury the hopes of scientists and patients for the emergence of new treatments, and expressed hope that it would be reviewed.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru24.08.2010