Embryos spared in stem cell creation

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Embryos spared in stem cell creation

 
Enlarge Advanced Cell Technology via AP
A single cell is removed from a human embryo to be used in generating embryonic stem cells. A biotech company has developed a new way of creating stem cells without destroying human embryos. 
 

 
  WHITE HOUSE POSITION
 
The statement issued by the White House in response to the research:

"The eligibility of such projects for funding is determined by criteria in each year's Labor/HHS Appropriations bill. We cannot comment on the eligibility of a study we have not seen and that the NIH and others have not been able to examine.

"Any use of human embryos for research purposes raises serious ethical concerns. This technique does not resolve those concerns, but it is encouraging to see scientists at least making serious efforts to move away from research that involves the destruction of embryos.

"The President is hopeful that with time scientists can find ways of deriving cells like those now derived from human embryos but without the need for using embryos. Its encouraging that progress continues to be made in the direction."
 
 
 
 

By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY
Researchers have found a way to create human stem cells from a single cell — without harming embryos.
But this discovery may not eliminate the concerns of those who have opposed stem cell research.

The alternative approach, reported in the journal Nature, relies on a fertility clinic method of diagnosing genetic diseases in embryos.

"We started this thinking it wasn't going to work, but it went surprisingly well," says study lead author Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. of Alameda, Calif. One of the most active and controversial players in the stem cell field, ACT is best known for announcing in 2001 that it had cloned a short-lived human embryo.

The alternative method is based on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which uses single cells taken from an 8- to 10-cell embryo to check for diseases. Minus the single cell, the embryos continue dividing normally and can be implanted into a mother's womb. About 1,500 babies have been born this way nationwide, Lanza says.

Lanza's team started with 16 frozen embryos donated by fertility clinic patients and removed a single cell, or blastomere, from each one. From the blastomeres, they grew two cell colonies, or lines.

If confirmed, the study authors hope the experiment will offer an alternative to the standard technique for generating human embryonic stem cells, allowing them to be created as a side benefit of PGD performed now at a few fertility clinics. "It's not often that technology offers a solution to an ethical dilemma, but this could be one," says bioethicist Ronald Green of Dartmouth's Ethics Institute, a member of ACT's unpaid research advisory panel.

University of Wisconsin researchers first isolated human embryonic stem cells in 1998. Biomedical researchers have long hoped the cells — capable of turning into nearly any tissue — could be grown into replacement organs for patients suffering diseases ranging from diabetes to Parkinson's.

However, opponents of the research, such as Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, object to the destruction of embryos needed to create the cell lines. Citing such concerns, President Bush in 2001 limited federal funding of embryonic stem cell research to then-existing cell lines, less than two dozen in practice. Bush vetoed a Senate bill expanding funding in July.

"It is encouraging to see scientists at least making serious efforts to move away from research that involves the destruction of embryos," said White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore in a prepared statement.

Stem cell scientists, such as Lawrence Goldstein of the University of California, San Diego, voiced muted enthusiasm for the alternative method. "For scientists, it's a moderately important step forward," he says. "Scientifically, it's good to have another source of embryonic stem cells," Goldstein says.

Among opponents, Doerflinger says by e-mail, the study "raises more ethical questions than it answers," citing concern about the long-term health of children born through fertility treatments.


My vote: Yes/No

[MODU]

Yes/No

[Flying Dog]

Here comes another argument/discussion about Morals again. (Sighs)

yes/yes-BECAUSE THE EMBRYOES WOULD OF BE DESTROYED ANYWAY!!!!

[MODU]

Here comes another argument/discussion about Morals again. (Sighs)

I answered it in terms of federally funding it, not on morals.

[Smash255]

Yes/ Yes

[afleitch]

Yes/Yes- but reading the White House statement, I don't think Bush would retract his opposition because it still involves embryos.

[Flying Dog]

Here comes another argument/discussion about Morals again. (Sighs)

I answered it in terms of federally funding it, not on morals.

I wasnt directing my comment towards you, MODU.  I was directing it towards the delusional forum members who would believe Bush and Santorums biased and blind-sighted comments.

[MODU]

I don't think Bush would retract his opposition because it still involves embryos.

I actually think he would.  He has taken the stance that federal funding should not be provided for the destruction of an embryo.  Like I stated before, if it is proven that the removal of a single cell from an embryo does not impact the development of the embryo into a healthy child, then I (and I'm sure Bush) would allow for federal funding into this narrow field of science. 

[Nym90]

Yes, and it should be federally funded. This is exactly the type of thing that government money should be used for given the great potential benefit to it and the large risk that the private sector would be taking by getting into it.

[dazzleman]

Yes, and it should be federally funded. This is exactly the type of thing that government money should be used for given the great potential benefit to it and the large risk that the private sector would be taking by getting into it.

If stem cells can be created without harming embryos, then the last objection to stem cell research should be removed.

This is bad news for those who wanted to use stem cells as a wedge issue.