Ban on U.S. Stem-Cell Research Funding Upheld During Appeal, Judge Rules

The Obama administration can’t continue to fund embryonic stem-cell research while appealing a ban on government support for any activity using cells taken from human embryos, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington today rejected the government’s motion to reconsider his ruling last month enforcing the ban pending an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. The Justice Department argued that Lamberth’s injunction itself is causing irreparable harm to researchers, taxpayers and scientific progress.

Lifting the ban would have allowed the government to continue funneling tens of millions of dollars to scientists seeking cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s, spinal cord injuries, and genetic conditions. Embryonic stem cells can grow into any kind of tissue and may have the potential to accelerate a range of research.

Lamberth on Aug. 23 issued an order temporarily stopping the Health and Human Services Department and the National Institutes of Health from conducting or funding the stem-cell studies. The judge cited the still-in-force 1996 Dickey-Wicker Amendment in his ruling, saying that Congress had prohibited funding any research in which a human embryo was destroyed. By implication, that included all stem-cell research, Lamberth said.

‘Will of Congress’

“A stay would flout the will of Congress, as this court understands what Congress has enacted in the Dickey-Wicker Amendment,” Lamberth wrote today. “Congress remains perfectly free to amend or revise the statute. This court is not free to do so.”

Representatives from the U.S. Justice Department didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

In March 2009, President Barack Obama reversed an executive order of former President George W. Bush to allow research on cells derived from embryos that would otherwise be disposed of after in vitro fertilization procedures.

Under the Bush order, Dickey-Wicker was interpreted to allow research on lines of stem cells that had already been created using human embryos. In his August 2001 executive order, Bush limited federal funding for such research to about 20 existing lines of embryonic cells and banned federal funding on lines created after that time.

In his Aug. 23 ruling, Lamberth said the administration was attempting to separate the derivation of the embryonic stem cells from research on them, and “the two cannot be separated.”

‘Difficult to Square’

In a filing last week, the Justice Department said Lamberth’s interpretation of the Dickey-Wicker amendment is “difficult to square” with the fact that Congress has endorsed the amendment in the federal budget every year since 1996 and appropriated stem-cell research funds.

“In light of this clear history, there is, at a minimum, a serious question whether Congress could have intended the interpretation proffered by plaintiffs and adopted by this court,” Justice Department attorneys wrote.

Doctors James Sherley of Watertown, Massachusetts, and Theresa Diesher of Seattle, identified by Lamberth as adult- stem-cell researchers, sued in August 2009, arguing that NIH guidelines breach the Dickey-Wicker strictures. They also argued that they were being irreparably harmed by having to compete for NIH funding with researchers using embryonic cells.

Following last month’s ruling, researchers are already ceasing to start new projects and are withholding grants.

The case is Sherley v. Sebelius, 09-cv-1575, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Washington).

To contact the reporters on this story: William McQuillen in Washington at bmcquillen@bloomberg.net

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