Groups square off over human cloning
DEBATE: Sides arguing over using clones for stem cell research
Anjetta McQueen; The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Anti-abortion activists and scientists squared off
Wednesday in a growing debate about the cloning of human embryos
for medical research.

Drawn by legislation that would make it a federal crime to clone a human
or participate in human cloning experiments, representatives from both
sides pressed their case before a Senate Commerce subcommittee.

Abortion opponents are fighting against creating human embryos that
will be killed in order to extract stem cells. Scientists say these stem cells
offer the possibility of restoring ailing hearts and perhaps even curing
diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's.

"We do not need to go to extreme measures by making and destroying
carbon copies of people," said actress Margaret Colin, who supports the
ban.

She and other abortion opponents told senators that a different type of
stem cell can be obtained from adult tissue.

Scientists said there are cloning techniques that can create stem cells
that can be used to replace human tissue destroyed by accident or
disease. Any new laws should take that into account, they said.

"Cloning is an extremely complex area of biology," said Dr. Rudolf
Jaenisch, a cell biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"It is premature to ban a technique that is still in the process of
evolving."

Also Wednesday, a researcher said that uncertainty about federal
support for stem cell research is driving away young scientists even
though many believe the field offers great hope for new medical
treatments.

While federal funds are barred by law for human embryo research,
guidelines from the National Institutes of Health allow federal dollars to
be spent on research with stem cells processed from embryos by
privately funded laboratories.

The Bush administration has ordered a review of those guidelines.

"The young people are caught in a hard place. The uncertainty makes
them not sure if they should pursue this field," said Douglas A. Melton,
a Harvard University scientist whose proposal for a research grant is on
hold while NIH awaits the outcome of the review.

"The political uncertainty is enough to turn off the interest of
researchers," he said in a teleconference call.

Clones are created when the genetic material from a single cell is injected
into an egg cell that has had its own genes removed. The resulting baby
would be like an identical twin born years later.

Federal regulators and many scientists have warned that cloning
humans is unsafe and unethical because, as with animal clones, the
process can create many deformed offspring before a successful one is
produced.

Much of the hearing focused on research into stem cells, special cells
that can be used to repair ailing organs. The cells come from human
embryos, which are killed when the cells are removed.

© Associated Press

http://www.tribnet.com/frame.asp?/news/health_science/0503a61.html

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