BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:
Interesting story. The
Justice Department
announced late today it will appeal yesterday's
court ruling
prohibiting
federal funding
for
embryonic stem cell research
. That ruling left a lot of researchers fairly stunned. The director of the
National Institutes of Health
said it, quote, "pours sand into the engine of discovery." For now much of that research remains on hold. We get more from our chief science correspondent
Robert Bazell
.
ROBERT BAZELL reporting:
Dr.
Chuck Murry
is in the delicate business of rebuilding severely damaged hearts and has tried adult and
embryonic stem cells
in his efforts.
Dr. CHUCK MURRY (University of Washington Medicine):
We're very pragmatic. Whatever works best for us.
BAZELL:
What he has accomplished with
embryonic stem cells
is remarkable: making new
heart muscle
cells that beat in laboratory conditions. So these are heart cells that are beating, and they were made from
embryonic stem cells
?
Dr. MURRY:
Exactly. Within a period of about two weeks, we can transform them from these flat little cells that just sit on the bottom of the dish to vigorously beating
heart muscle
.
Unidentified Woman:
This is a echo of your old heart.
BAZELL:
And this team at the
University of Washington
has already started injecting cells into people.
Mr. DICK MONTGOMERY:
Is that the valve there going up and down?
Woman:
This is the valve.
BAZELL:
Like
Dick Montgomery
, while he was awaiting a
heart transplant
.
Dr. MURRY:
They can become any of two hundred and some odd
cell types
in the body.
BAZELL:
Because of yesterday's
court ruling
, this research supported by federal money might have to stop by the end of the year. Scientists say much will be lost.
Dr. ARNOLD KRIEGSTEIN (University of California, San Francisco):
This really appears to me a very backwards step at a moment in time when we, the scientists and the public at large, are anticipating some significant advances in
stem cell
biology.
BAZELL:
Congress has decreed that federal money can't be used to destroy embryos, the first part of making
embryonic stem cells
.
President Obama
and his two predecessors said that once the cells were removed, government money could be used to work on them. Groups supporting the ruling say the judge was just
following the letter of the law
.
Mr. DAVID PRENTICE (Family Research Institute):
You can't part out the research.
Embryonic stem cell research
relies on destruction of human embryos, and so we're pleased with the ruling.
BAZELL:
The ruling does not affect privately funded research, but many scientists say without
federal funding
it will take much longer to learn the lifesaving potential of
embryonic stem cells
.
Robert
“ ”