U.S. Coalition Opposes Stem Cell Research
Updated 12:50 AM ET July 2, 1999By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
- A coalition of religious experts, doctors, scientists and politicians
spoke out against stem cell research Thursday, saying it was
unethical and scientifically questionable.
They called on Congress to maintain
legislation outlawing the use of human embryos -- which other
scientists say may be the best source of stem cells, the so-called
nursery or master cells that give rise to other types of cells
in the body.
"We believe that research being
proposed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on human
embryonic stem cells is immoral, illegal and unnecessary,"
Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback told a news conference.
Research in the past year has found
that stem cells might be used to treat Parkinson's, juvenile
diabetes and other diseases and could provide tissue for transplants
and tests. The cells come from embryos and tissues of the body
and blood.
The embryonic stem cells are "pluripotent"
-- they can develop into any kind of cell in the body. Embryos
used are from miscarriages or abortions, or are left over from
attempts at making test-tube babies.
At least one company, California-based Geron Corp, proposes cloning
human embryos as sources of stem cells.
The National Bioethics Advisory Commission
says this research holds so much promise that Congress should
lift part of its ban on using federal money for research on embryonic
stem cells.
But the opposing coalition called the idea distasteful and disturbing.
"The work begins with the destruction
of a living being," Dr. Frank Young, a former commissioner
of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and an ordained evangelical
minister, told the news conference.
"Moreover, destruction of human embryonic life is unnecessary
for medical progress, as alternative methods of obtaining human
stem cells and of repairing and regenerating human tissue exist
and continue to be developed," the group, sponsored by the
Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity in Bannockburn, Illinois,
said in a statement.
Signatories included former surgeon-general
Dr. C. Everett Koop, Samuel Casey, executive director of the
Christian Legal Society, and Richard Doerflinger of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
U.S. law bans the use of public funds to pay for research that
damages or manipulates live human embryos, and prohibits the
use of federal funds to create human embryos solely for research.
Most recent work showing the potential of stem cells has been
funded by private firms.
A new lobbying group, the Patients'
Coalition for Urgent Research (CURE), in May released a survey
of 1,000 adults that showed 74 percent supported human stem cell
research, even when the cells came from embryos. But groups like
Brownback's say there are better sources for stem cells than
embryos, and cite research showing the cells can be taken from
blood, the brain and other sources.
In May scientists at the University
of Pittsburgh said bone marrow cells transplanted into rats migrated
to their livers and helped repair them, and in March a group
at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Pasadena, California,
said it had found and grown stem cells from living nerve tissue.
Other researchers, like John Gearhart
of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, say scientists have
to investigate all sources of stem cells. They note that embryonic
stem cells automatically have the ability to become any type
of cell in the body, while other types, such as blood stem cells,
have restricted functions and must be manipulated to create muscle
or nerve tissue.
"At this stage all avenues of scientific
inquiry must remain open," Patient's CURE said in a statement
Thursday. "Only embryonic stem cells, with their capacity
to become any kind of human tissue, have the potential to repair
all vital organs."
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