Injunction bars government from using public funds on embryonic research
A federal judge in the U.S. has blocked the Obama administration from funding human embryonic stem cell, citing a federal law which bars governments from spending taxpayer money on embryonic experiments. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the National Institutes of Health from funding the research. The ruling is a setback for the Obama administration, since embryonic research is in many ways the holy grail of medicine due to its potential to cure many diseases despite being seeped in controversy. Opponents to the research have celebrated the ruling. “We are encouraged that the court has recognized the seriousness of the ethics and the funding of embryonic stem cell research,” said David Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences at the Family Research Council. The administration has yet to respond to the ruling.