A federal appeals court ruled that federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research can continue, rejecting a challenge from researchers who argued that federal law prohibits funding of research involving the destruction of human embryos.

A three judge panel unanimously upheld a district court’s summary judgment in favor of the government, saying that the district court committed no error in its ruling to warrant overturning the decision. The case dates back to 2009 when two researchers filed suit to stop the federal government from funding human embryonic stem cell research following President Barack Obama’s executive order that reversed Bush administration restrictions on such research.

The suit charged that the funding violated the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, an appropriations act rider that prohibits any federal funding for research in which a human embryo is destroyed.

Though the district court initially issued preliminary injunctions on the federal funding of the research, the appeals court ruled that the National Institutes of Health reasonably interpreted the amendment when it moved forward with funding the research. Though the process of deriving human embryonic stem cells result in the destruction of an embryo, the court said the research in question involved using earlier derived stem cells and therefore did not involved the destruction of any further embryos.

Bernard Siegel, spokesperson for the Stem Cell Action Coalition and executive director of the Genetics Policy Institute, hailed the decision, but expressed concerns about continuing efforts to halt human embryonic stem cell research, which he said represents the “gold standard” for researchers seeking cures based on stem cell technology for a wide range of conditions for which there are no known cures.

“As today’s decision can be appealed, proponents of federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research need to remain vigilant,” he says. “Indeed, with the current GOP platform opposing federal funding of this research and the ongoing threats of ‘personhood’ measures in several states, funding for this promising field of research continues to hang on a thread.” Opponents of the research expressed their disappointment with the ruling. David Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences with the conservative Family Research Council, expressed the view that the Obama administration’s policy violated Dickey-Wicker.

“There would be no embryonic stem cells available for federal funding without first harming and destroying a young human embryo, an act that is prohibited by the Dickey-Wicker language which is passed annually,” he says. “A plain reading of Dickey-Wicker would eliminate all taxpayer funds for embryonic stem cell research.”