US court temporarily lifts ban on stem cell research

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has temporarily lifted the ban on stem cell research imposed by a lower court in August.

The ban began on 23 August when Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary injunction prohibiting federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells (BMJ 2010;341:c4689, 26 Aug, doi:10.1136/bmj.c4689). The ruling threw the field into disarray, immediately halting some projects and causing the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to put a hold on many new and renewed research grants.

The NIH has spent $522m (£336m; €410m) on human embryonic stem cell research since 2005 and $127m this year alone.

Francis Collins, director of the NIH, said in a teleconference with reporters, “This decision …