US court blocks stem cell research

“A federal judge has blocked the Obama administration from funding human embryonic stem cell research, ruling that the support violates a federal law barring the use of taxpayer money for experiments that destroy human embryos …

“The ruling stunned scientists and other advocates of the research, which has been hailed as one of the most important advances in medicine in decades because of its potential to cure many diseases …

“‘This is absolutely devastating,’ said Amy Comstock Rick, immediate past president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, a group of patient organisations that has lobbied for more federal funding.”

— August 25 Sydney Morning Herald

From GLW issue 851