The Obama government’s funding for human embryonic cell research can continue, with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit having recently blocked a lower court’s decision which had earlier deemed it illegal that public funds be utilized for carrying out embryo research.

In its latest ruling, the Court of Appeals stated that the law pertaining to funding for embryonic cell research – which uses stem cells taken from donated human embryos that are left over from fertility treatments - was written in the present tense; thereby implying that it does not extend to past actions.

As a result of the Court of Appeals’ ruling, the case will go back to Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court in Washington --- the judge who said in a statement last August that it was highly unlikely that the Obama administration would win the case, and had issued an immediate ban on federal spending on embryonic cell research.

The Court of Appeals’ ruling has obviously come as a disappointment for the lawyer who brought the lawsuit against the government, in an attempt to stop the funding for embryo research. The lawyer said that he intends appeal the decision.

Meanwhile, for the government scientists who had to halt their experiments on several diseases, from Parkinson’s to diabetes, the decision comes as a welcome surprise. With the government having won the appeal, the ban has been temporarily lifted till the time the arguments are being heard.