Judge refuses to lift stem cell stay
- Sep 8, 2010 -
Federal judge Royce Lamberth rejected Sept. 7 the Obama administration’s request that he revoke his suspension of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research while the case proceeds in court.
In a two-page order that was another win for pro-lifers, the chief judge of the District Court of the District of Columbia denied the federal government’s motion that he stay his preliminary injunction issued Aug. 23. Lamberth’s ruling means the block on last year’s federal guidelines authorizing destructive stem cell research on human embryos will remain in effect for the time being.
In his two-page order, Lamberth signaled he may make a final ruling soon. The duration of his preliminary injunction “should be limited,” since the opponents of funding for embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) expect to file a request for summary judgment by Sept. 10, Lamberth wrote. If summary judgment is granted, no trial would be needed.
“[A] stay would flout the will of Congress, as this Court understands what Congress has enacted in the Dickey-Wicker Amendment,” Lamberth wrote in explaining his decision.
“Congress has mandated that the public interest is served by preventing taxpayer funding of research that entails the destruction of human embryos,” he said.
In issuing his Aug. 23 injunction, Lamberth found the guidelines published in 2009 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) violated the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, a law that prohibits federal funds for research in which a human embryo is destroyed. President Obama issued an executive order in March 2009 overturning a more restrictive funding policy and ordering NIH to devise guidelines consistent with his decree.
The ability of stem cells to convert to other cells and tissues has provided great hope for developing cures for various diseases, but extracting stem cells from an embryo results in the destruction of the days-old human being. ESCR has yet to provide any treatments for human beings and has been plagued by tumors in lab animals.
Research with adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has produced therapies for more than 70 afflictions and demonstrated promising results, respectively. Neither adult stem cell nor iPS research involves embryos.
After Lamberth halted ESCR funding Aug. 23, the Department of Justice (DOJ) urged the judge to stay his injunction. The stay was needed “to avoid terminating research projects midstream, invalidating results in process, and impeding or negating years of scientific progress toward finding” therapies for various diseases, according to DOJ.
In addition, NIH Director Francis Collins told Lambert his injunction would have “extraordinary adverse effects” on the hopes of providing treatments to patients and on progress in the biomedical research field.
Lamberth, however, said in his Sept. 7 order the Obama administration was “incorrect about much of their ‘parade of horribles’ that will supposedly result from this Court’s preliminary injunction.”
He said the adult stem cell scientists who brought the suit agree his order does not affect research projects already approved and funded. They also say his order “does not even address the Bush administration guidelines, or whether NIH could return to those guidelines,” Lamberth wrote.
The Dickey-Wicker Amendment — an annual spending bill rider that was first approved in 1996 — says federal funds shall not be used for “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.”
In his Aug. 23 ruling, Lamberth rejected arguments by lawyers for the administration that the Dickey-Wicker Amendment is ambiguous and permits federal funding for research on stem cells after they have been removed from embryos. The amendment only bars funding for the “piece of research” in which the embryo is destroyed, they contended.
The law does not permit such an interpretation, Lamberth said. “Rather, 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,” he wrote. “This prohibition encompasses all ‘research in which’ an embryo is destroyed, not just the ‘piece of research’ in which the embryo is destroyed.”
Lamberth said, “Because ESC research requires the derivation of ESCs, ESC research is research in which an embryo is destroyed.”
The judge granted the injunction because he determined: (1) The lawsuit had “a strong likelihood” of succeeding; (2) two of the parties bringing suit faced “irreparable harm” from the guidelines; (3) those parties’ injury is real and not speculative, and (4) it is in the “public interest.”
In the wake of Lamberth’s injunction, Rep. Diana DeGette, D.-Colo., has renewed her promotion of a bill that would codify ESCR funding. Opponents of the bill say it also would approve grants for research with human clones. DeGette said she expects the House of Representatives to pass her bill in September, Politico reported Sept. 3. Its fate in the Senate is not clear.
Obama’s March 2009 executive order overturned a prohibition instituted by President Bush on federal funding of stem cell research that results in the destruction of embryos. Bush’s 2001 order permitted, however, grants for experiments on stem cell lines, or colonies, already in existence at the time of his action.
NIH’s final guidelines, issued in July 2009, allowed funding for research on stem cells derived from frozen embryos created by in vitro fertilization. The embryos had to be donated by the parents who underwent the fertility treatments.
In the suit, two adult stem cell researchers, James Sherley and Theresa Deisher, were found eligible to bring an action in court because they were competitors for federal funds for their research. The other plaintiffs in the case include the Christian Medical Association, Nightlight Christian Adoptions and two couples seeking to adopt frozen embryos. Nightlight is known for its role in helping couples adopt “snowflake” babies, embryos that are in frozen storage because they were not implanted after in vitro fertilization.
Many scientists have promoted ESCR because stem cells from embryos are pluripotent, meaning they can transform into any cell or tissue in the body.
However, trials using stem cells from adult sources have been the most successful, producing therapies for at least 73 ailments in human beings, despite the fact such cells are not considered pluripotent, according to Do No Harm, a coalition promoting ethics in research. Trials with adult stem cells have provided treatments for such afflictions as cancer, juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart damage, Parkinson’s, sickle cell anemia and spinal cord injuries, Do No Harm has reported. Such treatments do not require the destruction of human embryos.
Another method of stem cell research that has generated a great deal of interest in recent years among scientists is that with iPS cells. Researchers have been able to convert skin cells into cells that have virtually the identical properties of embryonic ones.
The Dickey-Wicker Amendment, a part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ yearly spending bill, is named after its lead sponsors, former Republican Reps. Jay Dickey of Arkansas and Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Wicker is now a member of the Senate.
The case is Sherley v. Sebelius.
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