Federal Judge Halts Obama's New Embryonic Stem Cell Policy, Leaving Research in Limbo
Colonies of embryonic stem cells via University of Wisconsin-Madison Researchers at dozens of labs across the country are scrambling today to figure out exactly where their research stands and if feeding their cell cultures is even legal after a ruling handed down yesterday by a federal judge blocked President Obama's 2009 executive order expanding the scope of embryonic stem cell research. At issue: Whether or not Obama's policy violates a federal ban on federal money contributing to the destruction of embryos. At stake: A whole lot of ongoing medical science that could be cut down in stride. The ruling, according to Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court for D.C., should return the federal policy to the "status quo," an ambiguous statement that some understand as a return to the Bush administration's policy of limiting federally funded research to work on the 21 embryonic stem cell...