Aggregated News
The US Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling permitting the use of federal funds for research involving human embryonic stem cells (hESCs).
In a long-running legal battle, two US researchers sought to ban the funding of hESC projects by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They claim the funding contravenes a law banning the use of federal money in research involving the destruction of human embryos.
In a unanimous verdict, a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC upheld an earlier ruling passed down by a lower court in April 2011. This ruling centred on the wording of an amendment to an appropriations bill called the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, a law which prevents the federal government from funding research in which human embryos are destroyed. The court found that the NIH's interpretation of this law, as allowing grant funding for projects that use existing hESC lines but do not create them, was reasonable.
Stem cell research has always been controversial, with opponents finding the destruction of human embryos for research purposes unacceptable. Following the Dickey-Wicker Amendment...
In a long-running legal battle, two US researchers sought to ban the funding of hESC projects by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They claim the funding contravenes a law banning the use of federal money in research involving the destruction of human embryos.
In a unanimous verdict, a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC upheld an earlier ruling passed down by a lower court in April 2011. This ruling centred on the wording of an amendment to an appropriations bill called the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, a law which prevents the federal government from funding research in which human embryos are destroyed. The court found that the NIH's interpretation of this law, as allowing grant funding for projects that use existing hESC lines but do not create them, was reasonable.
Stem cell research has always been controversial, with opponents finding the destruction of human embryos for research purposes unacceptable. Following the Dickey-Wicker Amendment...