Image source: Scientific American
A federal judge this week found that federal funds could not be used to finance any stem cell research that involved embryonic stem cells, finding that doing so would contravene the Dickey-Wicker Amendment that has been added to appropriation bills for the last decade. The judge, Royce Lamberth, has been responsible for a number of highly visible cases since assuming his post, and it seems likely that he has made a reasonable interpretation of the law, albeit one that is more draconian that that of either the Bush or the Obama administration.
Since stem cell research offers major advances in both scientific knowledge and medical technology, and since embryonic stem cells still seem to have properties that can not be duplicated by treatment of stem cells from other tissue sources, I would hope NIH will soon resume funding embryonic stem cell based projects.
The solution is clear. The fiscal year is almost over. The Congress, in passing the next fiscal year's appropriations, should either not include the Dickey-Wicker Amendment or it should revise the Amendment to make clear that Congressional intent is not to ban embryonic stem cell research.
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