US Congressman, CSHL president urge quick action to reverse judicial embryonic stem cell research ban

Against a backdrop of some of the world's most sophisticated biological research labs, US Representative Steve Israel (Democrat, Huntington) last week issued a challenge to his colleagues in Congress: immediately upon their return from summer recess, he urged, they should pass legislation that would reverse a recent federal court decision that has brought embryonic stem cell research in the USA to a screeching halt (The Pharma Letter August 26).

Rep Israel was seconded in his plea by Bruce Stillman, a renowned cancer researcher and
president of not-for-profit group Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which hosted the Congressman's announcement to the press. Also lending vocal support was Brooke Ellison, a stem cell research advocate and instructor at Stony Brook University, who, since a car accident in 1990, has been a quadriplegic.

Rep Israel said the August 23 decision by Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, "sets back research, sets back patients and sets back jobs," on Long Island and across the nation. The decision, which prevents federally-funded research from being conducted on any embryonic stem cells derived from human embryos, "has not only rolled back the Obama policy on stem cells, but has actually rolled back the Bush policy," Rep Israel noted.