Yesterday morning, Sen. Tom Harkin, chair of the Labor and Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, held a hearing on federal embryonic stem cell research funding. This was prompted by an injunction by District Court Judge Royce Lamberth’s injunction that blocked the Obama Administration’s expansion of federal funding for ESCR. I watched nearly the whole thing (here). Nothing new, really. … Read More
Appeals Court Suspends Federal Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding Ban
This just in (h/t Jill Stanek): President Barack Obama’s administration can fund embryonic stem-cell research while it appeals a decision banning government support for any activity using cells taken from human embryos, an appeals court said. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington today put on hold a ruling by District Judge Royce Lamberth during its review of the ban. … Read More
Boo-hoo! Scientists Can’t Destroy Embryos on Taxpayer Dime :-(
In the wake of Monday’s court ruling against federal funding for embryonic stem cell research I’ve been reading story after story about researchers across the country complaining about how this decision negatively impacts the progression of ESCR. From these stories you would think that the judge actually banned ESCR completely. Apparently, the entire future of ESCR depends on the American … Read More
Court Blocks New Fed. Funding for ESCR! *Updated*
This is encouraging news: A federal judge temporarily blocked the Obama administration Monday from using federal dollars to fund expanded human embryonic stem cell research, saying the research involves the destruction of embryos. The ruling comes after the National Institutes of Health last year issued new guidelines permitting federal funding for research on certain stem cell lines that had already … Read More
Geron Cleared for First ESCR Human Trial
11 months after it halted the trial the FDA has given the Geron Corp permission to go ahead with the world’s first human trial of a treatment derived from embryonic stem cells: The world’s first authorized test in people of a treatment derived from human embryonic stem cells has been cleared to begin by the Food and Drug Administration. The … Read More
NCBC/Ave Maria Update
Two weeks ago I questioned the conclusion by the National Catholic Bioethics Center that there was no moral objection to Ave Maria University/Town creator Tom Monahan possibly selling part of his interest in the land around the university in order to allow the Jackson Laboratory biotech firm to build a research facility on the site. Here is a statement from … Read More
NCBC Offers 24/7 Free Emergency Ethics Consultation
Thanks to Gerard Nadal for pointing out the National Catholic Bioethics Center’s free 24 hr. consultation service. From their website: The National Catholic Bioethics Center regularly provides consultation services for institutions and individuals on critical issues which affect Catholic identity in health care. Institutional issues are related to the faithful observance of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health … Read More
Korean Court Rules Embryo is Not A Life Form
Under the dictatorship of relativism absolutely nothing is absolutely true…not even basic science. Case in point (h/t Wesley Smith): South Korea’s Constitutional Court has ruled that human embryos left over from fertility treatment are not life forms and can be used for research or destroyed, a court spokesman said Friday. In its ruling Thursday the court upheld an existing law … Read More
CBS Does ESCR Puff Piece
Here’s something we haven’t talked about in a while. I don’t watch the news, so I am thankful to a friend of mine for alerting me in a message on Facebook last week that CBS had aired a favorable report on embryonic stem cell research. Here’s video of the report: Watch CBS News Videos Online It’s your basic MSM ESCR … Read More
ESCR: It’s Not Just About Finding Therapies and Cures
Speaking of stem cell awareness, here are a few developments in embryonic stem cell research that you may not be aware of – but you should be. This summer General Electric teamed up with Geron Corp. in order to use embryonic stem cells to develop products that could give drug developers an early warning of whether new medicines are toxic. … Read More