Stem Cell
Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin said the injunction entered by a federal judge in Washington last month could cripple Wisconsin’s growing bioscience industry and stop the search for cures for disease.
Doyle spoke at the Waisman Center, where UW-Madison scientists using embryonic stem cells to study ways to treat eye disorders and Down syndrome expect to immediately lose grants totaling $400,000. Wisconsin has been a leader in the field since 1998 when UW-Madison scientist James Thomson became the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells.
Although adult stem cells are more plentiful, easier to obtain and are already used in a number of therapeutic applications, proponents of embryonic stem cell research continue to tout their use as the final solution to many conditions.
Some 100 organizations collectively filed a brief with the court last week supporting the Justice Department’s emergency request for the funding to continue until the matter is appealed. In the brief the group stressed that the research is on the brink of delivering life-saving treatments for debilitating disorders. However, to date none have reached the point of actual therapeutic use.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth signed the restraining order blocking federal funding for the work after finding a pending lawsuit was likely to succeed. Government advocates for the research, “are incorrect about much of their ‘parade of horribles’ that will supposedly result from this Court’s preliminary injunction,” he said.
Doyle said Wisconsin would provide evidence on appeal to show Lamberth is mistaken. Wisconsin also will file a friend-of-the-court brief describing the potentially devastating impact of the judge’s decision, he said.
