News Briefs: August 26, 2010 Print E-mail
By Catholic News Service   
Wednesday, 25 August 2010

Federal funding of stem-cell research stopped by judge


A federal judge ruled Aug. 23 that the Obama administration’s guidelines for funding embryonic stem-cell re­search violate federal law and stopped such funding while a lawsuit against it continues. Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in his ruling granting a temporary injunction that Drs. James Sherley and Theresa Deisher, both adult stem-cell researchers, had standing to challenge the guidelines because they faced the possibility of losing funding from the National Institutes of Health when NIH funding for embryonic stem-cell research was expanded.

Catholic agencies help flood victims


Pakistanis faced new dangers posed by disease as emergency response teams and international aid agencies struggled to rush supplies to millions of people forced to flee the country’s worst flooding in 80 years. At an Aug. 17 news conference in Islamabad, Daniel Toole, UNICEF regional director for South Asia, said up to 3.5 million children are in danger of contracting diarrhea, cholera and upper respiratory infections through contaminated water and insects. Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ international relief and development agency, is accepting donations by phone at (800) 736-3467; online at www.­crs.org; or by mail to CRS, P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, MD 21203-7090.

Cardinal urges ban on abortion funds


The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities is urging members of the U.S. House of Representatives to support proposed legislation that would permanently forbid federal funding of abortion. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, H.R. 5939, introduced by Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., would “write into permanent law a policy on which there has been strong popular and congressional agreement for over 35 years.” As of Aug. 23, the bill had 166 co-sponsors, including 20 Democratic members of the House. It has been referred to the House committees on the Judiciary, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means.