不是一个非常好的消息。只希望其他国家能够得到一些较早突破。
Halt to U.S. Stem Cell Funding May Thwart Search for New Cures
By Meg Tirrell and Andrew M. Harris - Aug 24, 2010 8:26 PM GMT+0800
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Federal funding for embryonic stem cell studies in the U.S. is again under attack after a judge blocked President Barack Obama’s expanded rules for scientists, potentially disrupting the field and discouraging new research.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington yesterday temporarily halted federal funding of studies using the cells, which can grow into any kind of tissue and are thought to have the potential to accelerate research into disease cures. Lamberth ruled the work violates a law passed by Congress to bar federal funding of the destruction of human embryos.
Obama in March 2009 lifted restrictions on U.S. government funding for the research imposed in 2001 by former President George W. Bush, allowing studies on cells derived from embryos that would otherwise be disposed of after in-vitro fertilization procedures. Lamberth, in a 15-page decision, wrote that such research “necessarily depends upon the destruction of a human embryo,” and that federal funding is barred under a 1996 law called the Dickey-Wicker amendment.
“The message this sends to researchers in this country, especially young researchers trying to get into this field, is a very, very negative one,” said Martin Pera, director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “It’s very disruptive, and will throw into doubt a lot of very important federally funded research.”
No Separation
The Obama administration, Lamberth said, was attempting to separate the derivation of embryonic stem cells from research on them, and “the two cannot be separated.”
White House spokesman Bill Burton referred questions to the Justice Department which he said “is reviewing the matter.” He declined to comment further.
The Dickey-Wicker amendment reflects “the unambiguous intent of Congress to enact a broad prohibition of funding research in which a human embryo is destroyed,” Lamberth wrote. “If one step or ‘piece of research’ of an embryonic stem cell research project results in the destruction of an embryo, the entire project is precluded from receiving federal funding by the Dickey-Wicker amendment.”
Researchers disagree, saying the regulations under Obama don’t provide U.S. funding for the destruction of human embryos.
“Almost all embryonic stem cell lines were created from embryos that were about to be discarded from fertility clinics,” Leonard Zon, director of the Stem Cell Program at Children’s Hospital in Boston and a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, said yesterday. “The moral value you’d place on embryos used for embryonic stem cell research isn’t equivalent to a full-grown child for most people.”
Support for Ruling
For opponents of the field, federal funding for such research equates to taxpayer support for the destruction of human life, said Steven H. Aden, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund in Washington, a Christian organization that represented the two remaining plaintiffs in the case.
“The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments -- prohibited by federal law -- that destroy human life,” Aden said yesterday in a statement on the alliance’s website. “The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos,” he said.
Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department are reviewing Lamberth’s ruling before deciding how to proceed, spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said in an e-mail.
Representative Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado and a leading proponent for Obama’s move, said the law needs to be changed.
‘Closed That Door’
“President Obama’s executive order last year opened a door to hope and promise for those patients, and today, Judge Lamberth has sadly once again closed that door,” DeGette said in an e-mail. “We must pass common-sense embryonic stem cell research legislation, placing these regulations into statute and, once and for all, ensuring this critical life-saving research can be conducted for years to come.”
Obama’s directive said the National Institutes of Health was free to “support and conduct responsible, scientifically worthy human stem cell research” using embryonic cells.
Doctors James Sherley and Theresa Deisher, identified by Lamberth as adult stem cell researchers, sued in August 2009, arguing the guidelines breached the Dickey-Wicker constraints. They also argued they were being irreparably harmed by having to compete for NIH funding with researchers using embryonic cells.
Embryonic stem cells have the ability to give rise to any of the about 200 types of cells in the human body. Adult stem cells, researched for about 50 years, are found in mature tissue. They are more limited than embryonic stem cells in their ability to differentiate into other cell types.
Dramatic Setback
The injunction on federal funding, if made permanent, may set the field back to a time before Bush’s 2001 order, said Jeanne Loring, director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Bush’s policies allowed research on about 20 cell lines in existence at the time.
“If the decision holds and no embryonic stem cell research can be funded by the National Institutes of Health, it will be a really huge loss,” Loring said yesterday in a telephone interview. “It will throw us back practically into the last century.”
谷歌翻译
联邦胚胎干细胞研究提供资金，美国是受到攻击后再次法官阻止总统奥巴马扩大了对科学家的规则，有可能破坏和阻止新的研究领域。
美国地方法院法官罗伊斯公司昨日在华盛顿兰贝特暂时停止使用联邦经费研究的细胞，它能够发育成任何类型的组织，并认为有可能加速将疾病的治疗研究。兰贝特裁决工作违反国会通过一项法律，禁止对人类胚胎的破坏联邦资金。
2009年3月奥巴马取消限制美国在2001年实施的前总统乔治布什政府资助的研究，使研究从，否则将处置后体外受精胚胎来源的细胞程序。兰贝特，在一个15页的判决书中写道，这种研究“必然取决于人类胚胎的破坏”，而联邦政府的拨款是根据1996年的一项名为迪基，柳条修改法律禁止。
“这个信息发送到这个研究人员在这个国家，特别是年轻的研究人员试图进入这一领域，是一个非常，非常消极的，”马丁说佩拉，在礼和埃德斯布罗德再生医学中心和干细胞研究主任在洛杉矶南加州大学。 “这是非常有破坏力的，并会令人怀疑抛出非常重要的联邦政府资助的研究很多。”
没有分离
奥巴马政府，兰贝特说，试图分开他们研究的胚胎干细胞来源，与“两个离不开”。
白宫发言人伯顿法案提到的问题，司法部，他说：“现正检讨有关事宜。”但他拒绝进一步发表评论。
该迪基-柳条修正案反映了“美国国会制定一个明确的意图的资金研究人类胚胎，其中一个被破坏的广泛禁止”兰贝特说。 “如果某个步骤或'研究的胚胎干细胞研究的胚胎销毁项目成果'一块，整个项目将不得接受被迪基，柳条修正案的联邦资金。”
研究人员不同意，说根据奥巴马的法规没有规定美国为摧毁人类胚胎的资金。
“几乎所有的胚胎干细胞系是从胚胎即将从生育诊所丢弃的创建，”伦纳德镕主任的干细胞计划在波士顿儿童医院和哈佛大学医学院的儿科教授，昨天说。 “你的道德价值对胚胎干细胞研究用胚胎的地方不等于一个对大多数人来说完全长大的孩子。”
支持执政党
对于对手的领域，这种研究的联邦资金相当于纳税人为人类生命的毁灭的支持，表示史蒂芬阁下亚丁，同联盟辩护基金会在华盛顿，基督教组织的代表在剩下的两个案件原告律师。
“美国人民不应该被迫支付实验 - 由联邦法律禁止 - 这摧毁人类生命”，昨天在亚丁说，对联盟的网站上发表声明。 “法庭是简单地执行现有法律，国会，防止支付另一对人类胚胎的研究一分钱不必要的美国人获得通过，”他说。
在美国司法部的律师正在审查，然后才决定如何进行，女发言人特蕾西Schmaler兰贝特的裁决在一封电子邮件中表示。
黛安娜DeGette代表，来自科罗拉多州的民主党和奥巴马的举动主要支持者表示，法律必须改变。
'关闭的那扇门'
“奥巴马总统的行政命令，去年开设了一个门，希望和承诺对这些患者，而今天，法官兰贝特伤心地再次关闭了那扇门，”DeGette在一封电子邮件中表示。 “我们必须通过常识性的胚胎干细胞研究的立法，放入这些条例和法规，一劳永逸，确保这一关键拯救生命的研究可以为今后几年进行的。”
奥巴马的指示说，美国国立卫生研究院是免费的“支持和行为负责，科学，值得人类干细胞研究的”利用胚胎细胞。
医生詹姆斯谢利和特里萨德舍，由兰贝特鉴定为成体干细胞研究人员，在2009年8月被起诉，声称违反了迪基的指引，柳条限制。他们还争辩说，他们正在无可挽回由美国国立卫生研究院不得不争夺与使用胚胎干细胞研究经费的伤害。
胚胎干细胞有能力给在人体内产生的细胞约200任何类型。***干细胞，约50年研究，发现在成熟的组织。他们比他们有能力分化成其他细胞类型的胚胎干细胞的限制。
戏剧性的挫折
关于联邦资助的禁令，如果取得永久的，可以设置外地回前布什在2001年令时，说珍妮洛灵，是再生医学中心主任斯克里普斯研究所的加利福尼亚州拉霍亚。布什的政策上允许存在于约20细胞系研究的时间。
“如果决定认为，没有胚胎干细胞研究可以由美国国立卫生研究院资助，这将是一个非常巨大的损失，”洛灵说，昨天在接受电话采访。 “这将引发我们回到上个世纪几乎。” |
