U.S. appeals court reinstates stem cell suit

[Avnish Jolly]

U.S. appeals court reinstates stem cell suit
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65O41G20100625?type=domesticNews&feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday reinstated a lawsuit that
challenges an Obama administration policy for federal funding of some
human embryonic stem cell research.

U.S. | Health

The unusual suit against the National Institutes of Health, backed by
some Christian groups opposed to embryo research, argued that the NIH
policy takes funds from researchers seeking to work with adult stem
cells.

It also argues that new Obama administration guidelines on stem cell
research are illegal.

The three-judge federal appeals panel did not rule on the merits of
the lawsuit itself, but said two of the doctors involved had legal
standing to file it.

A federal district court had earlier rejected the lawsuit, saying the
challengers had no standing.

Stem cells are the body's master cells. There are several kinds,
including those taken from days-old human embryos, which can give rise
to all the cells and tissues in the body.

Some people oppose working with human embryonic stem cells, but
President Barack Obama's administration reversed a policy that
severely limited federal funding of such work.

The NIH will now pay for research using the cells, although it will
not pay for the actual process of making the cells, which does involve
human embryos. The use of federal funds to pay for the destruction of
human embryos is forbidden by law.

The NIH also funds work with so-called adult stem cells, immature
cells found throughout the body.

Dr. James Sherley, a biological engineer at Boston Biomedical Research
Institute who opposes the use of embryonic stem cells, had argued that
the guidelines violated the law by permitting research on stem cells
derived from human embryos and would harm their work by increasing
competition for limited federal funding.

Sherley and Theresa Deisher of Washington-based AVM Biotechnology were
joined in their challenge by the Christian Medical Association, which
opposes federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and an
adoption agency called Nightlight Christian Adoptions, which had
argued that the guidelines reduced the number of embryos available for
use in adoption.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Maggie Fox; Editing by Julie
Steenhuysen and Vicki Allen)