WASHINGTON, D.C. (WSAU) – U-W Madison’s embryonic stem cell research won another temporary victory in a federal appeals court this morning.
An appellate court in Washington ruled that federal funding for embryonic studies could continue. That’s after a three-judge panel reinstated the funding late last year.
Federal Judge Royce Lamberth cut off the stem cell funding last August, until he could decide a larger lawsuit on the issue.
The suit alleges that tax-funded embryonic studies violate a 1996 law passed by Congress, which bars public funds from being used for research that destroys human embryos. The suit also said researchers who use adult stem cells for their health studies are put an unfair disadvantage for federal grants.
Today’s ruling was not about the lawsuit – only about the judge’s decision to cut off government research dollars while the suit goes through the courts.
The Obama White House appealed the injunction, and former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle filed a legal brief in support of that appeal.
Doyle, a Democrat, said at the time that judge funding cut-off could put a major crimp into Wisconsin’s bio-science industry, and delay major medical breakthroughs. U-W Madison gets around five-million dollars a year for embryonic studies aimed at finding cures for major diseases.
