A federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the National Institute of Health (NIH) guidelines for public funding of human embryonic stem cell research was filed last week, reports the Catholic News Agency. Dr. James Sherley, a senior scientist at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute, is a party to the suit, along with the Christian Medical Association and Nightlight Christian Adoptions, an embryo adoption agency.

Thomas G. Hungar, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the language of the statute is clear. “It bans public funding for any research that leads to the destruction of human embryos,” he explains. “NIH’s attempt to avoid Congress’ command by funding everything but the act of ‘harvesting’ is pure sophistry. The guidelines will result in the destruction of human embryos and are unlawful, unethical and unnecessary.”

Dr. Sherley, an expert stem cell researcher and former Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor, said that stem cells derived from human adults and other sources present “the same if not greater potential for medical breakthroughs without any of the troubling legal and ethical issues related to embryonic stem cell research.”

The plaintiffs allege that the NIH guidelines were invalidly implemented and did not properly consider other forms of adult and induced pluripotent stem cell research. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has signed on as co-counsel on the case and is providing financial support.