Stem-Cell Research’s Controversial Past

Embryonic-stem-cell research has provoked more controversy—political, religious, and ethical—than almost any other area of scientific inquiry. This week the field suffered a legal blow with U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth’s ruling, which blocks the Obama administration’s 2009 regulations expanding embryonic-stem-cell research.

Today, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins weighed in, saying he was shocked that the court had issued an injunction against the research. “I was stunned, as was virtually everyone here at NIH,” Collins told reporters during a telephone conference call. The ruling, Collins said, has the potential to do “serious damage to one of the most promising areas of biomedical research.”

Numerous NIH grants and millions of federal dollars will be immediately affected. Fifty new human embryonic-stem-cell grant applications waiting for peer review have been put on hold, Collins said. About a dozen other grants involving human embryonic-stem-cell research that are further along in the approval process and total about $15 million to $20 million cannot move forward. And a freeze must be put on the renewal of 22 additional grants that had already been approved, equaling $54 million. The consequences, Collins said, are “dramatic and far-reaching.” The Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, and others are taking this very seriously, Collins said, and are “working very hard” to figure out what steps will be taken next.

As yet another new chapter begins, we look back at the evolution of the field.