[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Brazil [official website, in Portuguese] Thursday ruled 6-5 that a 2005 law allowing embryonic stem cell [JURIST news archive] research is constitutional, rejecting a challenge by the country's attorney general that it infringed on the "constitutional right to life." Thursday's decision drew condemnation from the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops [group website, in Portuguese; press release, in Portuguese], while Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) [profession website, in Portuguese] President Cezar Britto praised it as "a victory of knowledge and human life" [OAB press release, in Portuguese]. Reuters has more.

Last year President George W. Bush Wednesday vetoed a Democrat-backed bill [JURIST report] that would have relaxed funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research in the United States. In 2006, Australia lifted its restrictions on stem cell research [JURIST report] and also approved the therapeutic cloning of human embryos.