Good news for patients and stem cell researchers alike. On August 24th, the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the District of Columbia court decision granting the government’s motion for summary judgment allowing the continued funding of research involving human embryonic stem cells (“hESCs”). Sherley v. Sibelius, No. 11-5241, slip op. (D.C. Cir. August 24, 2012). This is the most recent decision in the dispute between U.S. researchers in the field of adult stem cells, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
History of the Dispute
On March 9, 2009, President Barack Obama’s signed an Executive Order that overturned the previous administration’s policy banning the use of federal funds for research using embryonic stem cells created after August 9, 2001. (Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells, Executive Order 13505, 74 Fed. Reg. 46, 10667 (March 11, 2009)). This action renewed the hope of scientists and supporters of research using embryonic stem cells that the increased availability of funding would make it easier to conduct such research in the United States.
Soon thereafter, a group of plaintiffs filed suit challenging the NIH’s authority to issue the 2009 NIH Guidelines that implemented President Obama’s 2009 Executive Order. Plaintiffs argued that legislation known as the Dickey Amendment or the Dickey-Wicker Amendment bans the use of federal funding to support research involving human embryos. Congress originally passed this legislation in 1996, and former President Clinton signed it into law. The Dickey Amendment prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the NIH, from funding research where human embryos are destroyed. Congress has included the Dickey Amendment in every subsequent HHS appropriations bill without substantial alteration. In subsequent years, the rider was enacted in Title V (General Provisions) of the Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Act.