Appeals court lifts ban on federal embryonic stem cell research funding

A federal funding ban on embryonic stem cell research was lifted by an appeals court Friday.
A three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in a 2-1 ruling, said the National Institutes of Health can fund embryonic stem cell research. Central to the ruling is the court’s belief that the 1996 Dickey-Wicker Act that prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars for creating or destroying human embryos for research purposes does not ban research using embryonic stem cells.
Alan Trounson, president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, cautiously welcomed the ruling.
“The fight is far from over,” Trounson said, “which makes stable funding from sources such as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine so important.”