U.S. Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research Halted

U.S. funding of embryonic stem cell research approved by President Barack Obama was halted by a federal judge who ruled that the work violates a law passed to bar the destruction of human embryos.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington today issued an order temporarily stopping the U.S. Health & Human Services Department and the National Institutes for Health from conducting the studies. The judge cited the still-in-force 1996 Dickey-Wicker Amendment.

“The language of the statute reflects the unambiguous intent of Congress to enact a broad prohibition of funding research in which a human embryo is destroyed,” Lamberth said in a 15-page decision.

Obama in March 2009 reversed an executive order of former President George W. Bush that limited stem cell research to about 20 existing lines of embryonic cells. Obama’s order allowed research on cells derived from embryos that would otherwise be disposed of after in vitro fertilization procedures. 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.”

‘Piece of Research’

“Simply because embryonic stem cell research involves multiple steps does not mean that each step is a separate ‘piece of research’ that may be federally funded,” Lamberth wrote. “If one step or ‘piece of research’ of an embryonic stem cell research project results in the destruction of an embryo, the entire project” is barred from getting federal funds, he said.

Obama’s directive said the National Institutes of Health were free to “support and conduct responsible, scientifically worthy human stem cell research” using embryonic cells.

Doctors James Sherely 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.

In an earlier decision, Lamberth ruled that an original co- plaintiff, Nightlight Christian Adoptions, didn’t have standing to argue the research on embryonic stem cells reduced the number of fertilized human eggs available for adoption under its “Snowflakes” program.

The U.S. appeals court in Washington sent the case back, giving the doctors alone standing to sue on the competition issue.

‘Reviewing the Decision’

“We’re reviewing the decision,” U.S. Justice Department spokewoman Tracy Schmaler said in an e-mailed statement.

Plaintiffs attorneys Thomas Hungar and Bradley Lingo in the Washington office of Los Angeles-based Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP didn’t immediately reply to a phone message seeking comment.

Samuel Casey, general counsel to the evangelical Christian legal group Advocates International in Springfield, Virginia, didn’t reply to voicemail and e-mail requests for comment. He is listed on the court’s electronic docket and filings as co- counsel with Lingo and Hungar.

An injunction wouldn’t “seriously harm” the embryonic studies because it would merely preserve the status quo and “not interfere with their ability to obtain private funding for their research,” the judge said.

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

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew M. Harris in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net