Stem Cell Research Wins A Final Legal Battle

By Pat Loeb

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Local researchers are hailing the announcement that the Supreme Court will not take up the issue of embryonic stem cell research.

The court refused to review the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging funding for the research.

The decision is good news for researchers at Penn and the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey, who use stem cells to explore treatment for a wide variety of diseases.

But, ultimately, says Jonathan Moreno of Penn's bioethics center, its patients who benefit.

"People who have diseases that, if not directly treated, will be much better understood because of access to human embryonic stem cells," says Moreno.

He hopes the decision will remove the stigma that plagued the research as opponents argued the morality of using cells from embryos left over from in vitro fertilization.

But Father Tad Pacholczyk of the Philadelphia-based Catholic Bioethics center hasn't changed his mind.

"This raises very significant moral concerns and that's why this has been so much in the eye of the public," he explains.

Pocholczyk does agree, the decision puts the matter to rest, legally.