"Do I have to turn off the lights and ... not use any of the equipment to do the experiments?"
This statement of Timothy Kamp MD (director of the University of Wisconsin) stands as a testimony of anguish that has been generated amongst the biomedical research scholars thanks to the verdict by federal district court of Colombia.
Responding to the petition filed by a group of researchers dealing with nonembroynic stem cells, the court issued injection to the research on embryonic cell stems. This petition was also supported by Christian Medical & Dental Assns., an adoption agency and others.
Embryonic research has been receiving federal funding since 2001. The president then( Gorge Bush) issued an executive order allowing such research with federal funding.Barack Obama carried the policy forward by loosening the restrictions on this research via executive order issued in september 2009.
National Institutes of health which deal with granting of the aid,already has numerous projects lined up on the same subject which stand eligible for federal funding.NIH has already blocked 10 grant requests worth $25,00,000. This is expected to soar in the days to come.
The dispute arose due to varied interpretations of Dickey-Wicker amendment. HHS had carried the research on the justification that the research does not result in destruction of embryo directly.This interpretation was dismissed by the court which felt "If Congress intended to limit ... Dickey-Wicker to only those discrete acts that result in the destruction of an embryo, like the derivation of [embryonic stem cells], or to research on the embryo itself, Congress could have written the statute that way,"
This judgment poses the same old question before the court: morals Vs science. Biomedical research is a innovative stream which has potential to change the history of genetics. At the same time directly or indirectly this goes against the federal policy and conservative belief that government should not aid any project that destroys or discards or injures any form of life.
Whatever may be the far reaching implications of this judgment, the thing as of now spells doom for this field of research.
