Resurrection of a Stem-Cell Funding Barrier — Dickey–Wicker in Court

Abstract

Embryo research was born political. Expressions of shock and surprise at the August 23 ruling of federal district court judge Royce Lamberth enjoining federal funding of stem-cell research — which was based largely on his reading of an amendment to an appropriations bill — are thus not terribly persuasive.1 The amendment, known as the Dickey–Wicker amendment, provides that no federal funds can be expended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for “(1) the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes; or (2) research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected . . .