Tag Archives: Topic: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

CNSNews: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $1.5 million to study biological and social factors for why “three-quarters” of lesbians are obese and why gay males are not, calling it an issue of “high public-health significance.”

FoxNews: The National Institutes of Health has spent millions of dollars over the past decade to fund the construction of an HIV-prevention website that, among other sexually explicit features, includes a graphic image of homosexual sex and a Space Invaders-style interactive game that uses a penis-shaped blaster to shoot down gay epithets.

LifeNews: “Taking advantage of an appeals court ruling striking down an injunction against his forcing Americans to pay for embryonic stem cell research, the Obama administration is looking at more funding . . . ”

U.S. Department of State: “Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela and the Director of the National Institutes for Health, Dr. Francis Collins, will brief the media on the U.S. Public Health Service STD Inoculation Study of 1946-1948 in a teleconference call on Friday, October 1, at 11:15 a.m. EDT. This conference call is open to credentialed members of the media.”

Political Cortex: “An appeals court in the United States suspended a ban imposed last month on federally-funded research involving embryonic stem cells . . . However, with legal action ongoing, the extent to which NIH will be able to pursue and fund projects remains unclear. The legal action, which was also backed by Christian groups including the Alliance Defense Fund, is against the NIH.”

American Medical News: “The National Institutes of Health is restarting funding of embryonic stem cell research after an appeals court temporarily lifted a lower court’s ban against it . . . The plaintiffs, which include the Christian Medical & Dental Assns., an adoption agency and others, are still confident they will prevail, said [Steve Aden], senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, part of the plaintiffs’ legal team. The alliance takes on cases involving religious freedom. ‘We’re still looking forward to briefing the case and ultimately prevailing, because we think the law is clear,’ Aden said.”

The Tech (MIT): “Arguments will be heard at 10 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 27. It had previously been expected the court would decide on the strength of briefs filed before it, the last of which is due Sept. 20. The court will probably rule a few days after oral argument . . . The lawyers for Sherley and Deisher, are all working pro bono, meaning free of charge, because they believe the work is in the public interest. The lead counsel is Thomas G. Hungar, a partner at the high-powered law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher; five Gibson Dunn associates are also on the case. They are joined by Samuel B. Casey of Advocates International and Steven H. Aden of the Alliance Defense Fund.”

Blog of LegalTimes: “A federal appeals court in Washington will hear oral argument Sept. 27 in the government’s challenge of a preliminary injunction that blocks funding for human embryonic stem cell research.”

Law.com: “The Gibson team, working with Washington’s Alliance Defense Fund and Fairfax, Va.-based Advocates International, said in the court papers that a stay pending appeal ‘would lead to a flight of federal dollars into [human embryonic stem cell] research,’ hurting Sherley and Deisher and other National Institutes of Health grant applicants.”

Robert P. George, Yuval Levin, and Matthew J. Franck writing at National Review Online: “[I]t is the president who fails to be open to the inconvenient truth about the human embryo, namely, that from the single-cell stage of development onward, the human embryo is a distinct, determinate, self-directing, integrated human organism — a living member of the human species who, if given a suitable environment, will move along the seamless trajectory of biological development toward maturity. At the so-called ‘blastocyst stage,’ when the embryo might be destroyed to derive embryonic stem cells, he or she is already a living individuated organism . . . Is our humanity alone enough to merit protection and regard, or are we required to prove we have some other set of qualities or capacities to qualify for respect and protection?”

ChristianNewsWire: “Advocates International (AI), part of the public interest legal team along with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (GD&C) who brought the case before the court more than a year ago, seeks to maintain the preliminary injunction issued by the United States District Court of the District of Columbia enjoining HHS and NIH from unlawfully expending taxpayer funds on research involving the destruction of living human embryos.”

Peter J. Boyer writing at The New Yorker: “The objection to [geneticist Francis Collins] was his faith—or, at least, the ardency of it. Collins is a believing Christian, which places him in the minority among his peers in the National Academy of Science . . . The President had found not only a man who reflected his own view of the harmony between science and faith but an evangelical Christian who hoped that the government’s expansion of embryonic-stem-cell research might bring the culture war over science to a quiet end. On August 23rd, however, Judge Royce C. Lamberth, of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, halted federal spending for embryonic-stem-cell research, putting hundreds of research projects in limbo and plunging the N.I.H. back into a newly contentious national debate.”

The Christian Institute: President Obama’s administration has formally challenged a court order which temporarily blocks federal funding of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research in the United States . . . [ADF Attorney Steven H. Aden] said: ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments prohibited by federal law that destroy human life. The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos.’”

Yale Daily News: “Rizzolo’s laboratory is one of about a dozen facilities on campus that use stem cells. Haifan Lin, director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, said he did not yet know how the moratorium will affect Yale researchers . . . ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life,’ said [Steven Aden], the legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advised the party that brought the lawsuit to court.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Obama Administration is appealing the decision, and said that a stay ‘should not be denied for the benefit of two scientists whose only alleged harm is increased competition from other meritorious research projects that may ultimately save lives.’ As a result of the injunction, NIH has cut off funding to its eight ‘intra-mural’ hESC research projects . . . ‘We think it’s a start,’ [Steven Aden], Senior Legal Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, told LifeSiteNews.com in a telephone interview.”

Las Vegas Sun (AP): “[T]he ruling drew praise from the Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian attorneys who helped with the lawsuit filed by two researchers against the administration rules.The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments _ prohibited by federal law _ that destroy human life,’ said [Steven H. Aden], the group’s senior legal counsel. ‘The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos.’”

PressTV: “‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life. The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos,’ [Steven H. Aden] said.”

Reuters: “Dr. James Sherley, whose lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health has threatened to stall human embryonic stem cell research, has challenged authority before but has also been honored by the NIH itself for his work.”

Winston-Salem Journal: “The National Institutes of Health announced yesterday that it had suspended funding new human embryonic stem-cell research and that all federally funded experiments already under way would be cut off when they come up for renewal if a new court order was not overturned . . . ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life. The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos,’ said Steven H. Aden, the group’s senior legal counsel.”

Politico: “The Justice Department said Tuesday it will appeal an injunction that temporarily halts federal funding for embryonic stem cell research . . . But [Steve Aden], senior counsel at the anti-abortion Alliance Defense Fund, said the injunction represents a step toward better public policy. Aden, who represents the plaintiffs – two scientists who conduct similar research using adult stem cells – believes they can achieve better medical breakthroughs than researchers who use embryonic stem cells.”

BBC: “The US government will appeal after a US district court issued a temporary injunction blocking plans by the Obama administration to increase funding for human embryonic stem cell research . . . The suit, which was also backed by Christian groups including the Alliance Defense Fund, is against the National Institutes of Health (NIH).”

LifeNews: “And Advocates International, part of the public interest legal team along with the Alliance Defense Fund litigating the case for stem cell researchers opposed to Obama’s order, also weighed in with a response.”

New York Times: “The ruling came as a shock to scientists at the National Institutes of Health and at universities across the country, which had viewed the Obama administration’s new policy and the grants provided under it as settled law. Scientists scrambled Monday evening to assess the ruling’s immediate impact on their work . . . [Steven H. Aden], senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which sued to stop the Obama administration rules, said the judge’s ruling ‘means that for now the N.I.H. cannot issue funding grants to embryonic stem cell research projects without any further order from the court.’”

Associated Press: “The judge’s ruling drew praise from the Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian attorneys and co-counsel in the suit. ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life. The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos,’ [Steven H. Aden], ADF’s senior legal counsel, said.”

LifeNews: “The Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life legal group that served as co-counsel in the case, also hailed the order that prevents the Obama administration from carrying out its embryonic stem cell research policy while the court considers the lawsuit. ‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments–prohibited by federal law–that destroy human life,’ said ADF Senior Legal Counsel [Steven Aden].”

Earned Media (Advocates International): “Advocates International (AI), part of the public interest legal team along with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (GD&C) who brought the case before the court more than a year ago, is pleased with the decision of the United States District Court of the District of Columbia yesterday enjoining HHS and NIH from unlawfully expending taxpayer funds on research involving the destruction of living human embryos.”

Ronald Bailey writing at Reason: “The case had been brought before the court by the conservative Christian Alliance Defense Fund and Nightlight Christian Adoptions which wants to put embryos left over from fertility treatments up for ‘adoption.’ Both argue that deriving human embryonic stem cells kills pre-born people. Given that about 60 percent of Americans support stem cell research using embryos left over from fertility treatments, this ruling will surely spark the stem cell wars anew.”

The Christian Post: “‘The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments – prohibited by federal law – that destroy human life,’ said [Steven H. Aden], senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund. ‘The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos.’”

Michael Tomasky writing at The Guardian: “This case was not only about the new NIH guidelines, but about the legal standing of the plaintiffs, who were representatives of conservative Christian advocacy groups and research agencies that opposed the Obama NIH proposals. The plaintiff Alliance Defense Fund has a history of anti-gay activism. The group’s standing to sue was in question. In fact, on a previous occasion, Lamberth tossed the suit, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked standing.”

Portfolio.com / Heavy Doses: “The judge found that a group of researchers working with adult stem cells, represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, had a good chance of winning their suit challenging the Obama administration’s policy. That suit was based on a 1996 Congressional ban on destroying embryos to create embryonic stem cell lines.”

Vermont Public Radio (NPR): [Steven Aden] of the Alliance Defense Fund didn’t buy that argument, and neither did Judge Lamberth. ‘If one step of a project results in the destruction of an embryo, the entire project is precluded from receiving federal funding,’ Aden said.”

The Washington Post: “[Steven Aden], a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund who filed the suit, said the court will need to clarify whether the injunction affects work using money already issued to researchers under the administration’s new guidelines or blocks additional funding.”

The Boston Globe: “[Steven H. Aden] — senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit legal alliance of Christian attorneys and co-counsel in the suit — said yesterday that the alliance was encouraged by the ‘common sense’ ruling. ‘We believe that the court’s interpretation is consistent with Congress’s intent in keeping taxpayer money out of research that destroys human life,’ Aden said.”

Bloomberg: “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.

LifeNews: “The Obama administration is making American taxpayers fund yet another round of embryonic stem cells with taxpayer funds even though they have never helped any human patients because of problems in animal research. On Monday, NIH Director Francis Collins approved eight more embryonic stem cell lines for federal funding — including the six lines the Stem Cell Working Group signed off on last week.”

Baptist Press: “The Obama administration’s guidelines for federal funding of stem cell research that results in the destruction of human embryos have been challenged in court, and a lawyer behind the suit says he thinks its ‘chances are very good.’”