Court Temporarily Blocks Ruling Barring Studies on Embryonic Stem Cells

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday temporarily allowed federal funding to continue for research on embryonic stem cells, blocking a lower court's ruling last month that declared such studies to be illegal, the Los Angeles Times reported. The appeals court's ruling is only the latest step in what is likely to be a long legal battle, but it cheered many biomedical researchers, who strongly opposed the lower court's ruling.