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Court Holds Embryonic Stem Cell Research Eligible for Government Funding

It is a ruling that Los Angeles spinal cord injury lawyers and patients with spinal cord injuries will welcome.  An appeals court has overturned a federal judge’s ruling last year that federal funds cannot be used for stem cell research that used destroyed human embryos.

In August last year, federal judge Royce Lamberth had ruled that federal funds cannot be used for embryonic stem cell research that involved the use of destroyed embryos.  According to the judge, since the research depends extensively on the use of destroyed embryos, there can be no distinction made between research involving the destruction of embryos, and research involving destroyed embryos that have been left over from fertility treatments.

California spinal cord injury attorneys had strongly opposed that ruling.  In the United States, in 2008, there were an estimated 259,000 persons with spinal cord injury.  Most of these injuries affect young adults.  Most injuries are caused as a result of auto and truck accidents, slip and fall accidents, workplace accidents, violence and assault.

Unfortunately, stem cell research, which offers patients with spinal cord injuries and other illnesses the hope of effective treatment, has been used by several groups for their own vested interests.  Antiabortion groups have held that federal funds should not be used for research that depends on the use of destroyed human embryos.

Now, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned Lamberth’s ruling.  According to the Circuit Court, the National Institutes of Health has concluded that federal funding for embryonic stem cell research is prohibited by law only when it involves the use of federal funds for research involving the destruction of embryos.  Therefore, there is nothing prohibiting the use of federal funds in stem cell research which uses already destroyed embryos that have been discarded after fertility treatments.  The National Institutes of Health had held that research can include human embryos that were created through IVF procedures, but not needed for the purpose, and had been voluntarily given up by their donors for research.

The decision has been welcomed by scientists who are conducting research using embryonic stem cells for the treatment of spinal cord injuries, cancer and other disorders.  In California, scientists at the University of California San Francisco, welcomed the ruling, and said that this would promote stem cell research.  This is a victory not just for scientists who have dedicated so much time already to the discovery of new treatments using stem cell therapies for spinal cord injury, but also for patients who suffer from spinal cord injuries, and are looking at a lifelong sentence of immobility and lack of movement.

Besides, stem cell therapy promises treatment option for all kinds of other illnesses, including cancer.  Last year, research conducted using stem cells found that the use of stem cell therapy could be very effective to treat eye burns.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of spinal cord injuries. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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