After Monday’s court ruling banning human embryonic stem-cell research, the Obama administration said it will appeal the order. While officials said experiments that already are under way would be allowed to continue, the decision would force the cancellation of “dozens of experiments in diseases ranging from diabetes to Parkinson’s,” according to the head of the National Institute of Health. The Times reports that the government would be forced to suspend $54 million in financing for 22 scientific projects by the end of September if the ruling is upheld. Additionally, the timing of the ruling means stem-cell research, which had “been a dormant moral and political debate,” is likely to become a hot-button issue right in time for the midterm elections.
