October 7, 1999
Judge Rules on Tissue Research Ban
PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona law prohibiting the use of fetal tissue in
medical research has been found unconstitutional by a federal judge.
U.S. District Judge William Browning said the law was too vague because
it failed to define terms like ``experimental'' and did not draw clear
line between experimental and standard practice.
Similar laws in other states, including Utah, Louisiana and Illinois,
have been overturned by the courts.
The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, based in New York, had
challenged Arizona's fetal-tissue ban in 1996 on behalf of four people
suffering from Parkinson's disease.
Medical studies have suggested that some fetal-tissue transplants can
effectively treat the neurological disorder because the tissue produces
dopamine, a substance in the brain that controls voluntary movement.
The 1975 Arizona law, revised in 1983, barred medical researchers from
using fetal tissue that resulted from an induced abortion.
In his decision Sept. 30, Browning ordered the state to stop enforcing
the rule.
Pati Urias, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's office, said
Wednesday that the office had not decided whether to appeal.
Arizona Right to Life President John Jakubczyk criticized the ruling,
saying it favored a ``pro-abortion industry'' that wants to profit from
``fetal harvesting.''
Two Arizona affiliates of Planned Parenthood had joined the lawsuit.
Dr. Robert Fisher, chairman of the neurology department for Barrow
Neurological Center in Phoenix, said the ruling could lead to
breakthroughs in treatment for people with brain disorders.
``With the opportunity to do research, it will become much more feasible
to make it a clinically important and useful procedure,'' he said. But
he added, ``It also raises significant ethical dilemmas that will have
to be considered along with scientific advances.''
Copyright © 1996-1999 The Associated Press.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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