Ruling allows stem cell research funding to continue

WASHINGTON - A U.S. appeals court issued a ruling yesterday allowing federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research to continue, pending a full appeal, thus lifting an injunction issued by a federal judge who had said the Obama administration's policy violated the law.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the administration had "satisfied the standards required for a stay pending appeal" of the injunction imposed by the judge last month.

Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that National Institutes of Health guidelines on the research violated the law because embryos were destroyed in the process and it put other researchers working with adult stem cells at a competitive disadvantage for federal grants.

The Obama administration challenged his ruling and asked the appeals court to put it on hold pending its decision on the merits of the dispute. The appeals court ordered an expedited schedule for arguments.

During a lengthy oral argument Monday, government lawyers warned the three-judge panel of the appeals court that dozens of research projects would be ruined if their funding was cut off, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars and causing irreparable harm.

President Barack Obama has expanded federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells in hopes it will lead to cures for more diseases. Opponents argue, usually on religious grounds, that the research is unacceptable because it damages or destroys human embryos.

Lamberth's injunction came after a challenge by two researchers who work with adult stem cells and opposed work with embryonic stem cells - Dr. James Sherley, a biological engineer at Boston Biomedical Research Institute, and Theresa Deisher, of Washington-based AVM Biotechnology.