Excerpts from article in :
 Los Angeles Times
August 11, 2001 Saturday  Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 1; National Desk
HEADLINE:Stem Cell Decision Doesn't Quell Debate;
Science: Uncertain but resolved researchers gear up to start limited
tests.
Senate hearing planned.
BYLINE: AARON ZITNER, EDWIN CHEN

"  Facing a skeptical research community, the Bush administration argued
Friday
that the president's plan to fund research using human embryo stem cells
would
propel scientists on a course to finding new treatments for disease.

   But on the day after Bush devoted a nationally televised address to
the
research, many scientists and patient advocacy groups said they could not
yet
endorse his plan. They questioned Bush's decision to limit federal
funding to
experiments using only existing stem cells already taken from only 60 or
so
embryos.

   "There's so much more we need to know about this," said Lawrence
Soler, who
led a coalition of patient advocacy groups that lobbied for federal
funding. "We
need to know if these cells that the president has identified are robust
and
useful. Until they can look at these cells, scientists are going to
remain
skeptical."
"... Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson acknowledged
that
Bush's decision had spawned questions about whether the 60 sets of stem
cells,
known as cell lines, "are adequate to conduct effective research. The
answer,
ladies and gentlemen, is a resounding yes."

"... The 60 cell lines that can be used in federally funded experiments
have
already been extracted from embryos, using private money... "

   Health Officials Start on Registry

 " Thompson and officials at the National Institutes of Health said
Friday that
they had begun building a registry of the 60 cell lines, which will take
several
weeks. Researchers will have to form alliances with owners of the cell
lines
before they can submit grant applications to the NIH. And the NIH has no
power
to compel owners of the cell lines to work with any researcher.

   Thompson and NIH officials released few of the key details about the
cell
lines that many scientists want to know. They said that many of the cell
lines
had been created at private companies and that they did not have
authority to
release proprietary information about many of the lines.

   Officials said they could only reveal the source of 17 of the 60 cell
lines.
They came from three businesses: WiCell Research Institute Inc. of
Wisconsin,
and ES Cell International and BresaGen Ltd., both of Australia.

   They said the cell lines met several ethical and scientific
benchmarks. The
cell lines, they said, were created under strong ethics guidelines: All
the
embryos involved were donated by fertility patients, who often create
more than
they need in the course of trying to become pregnant and who sometimes
discard
the surplus embryos. The patients signed informed consent forms before
donating
their embryos, and none was paid for the embryos.

   About half of the cell lines were created in the United States and the
others
in Australia, India, Israel and Sweden."

 " But scientists and research advocates said they need to know much
more,
including the conditions under which the cell lines were created, their
ability
to reproduce and whether they could truly grow into a wide range of body
tissues.
"... The scientist who first isolated stem cells in human embryos, James
Thomson
of the University of Wisconsin, said: "If there truly are 60 cell lines
available, then I do feel the field will get a good start from this. But
until
more is known about them, I can't say. . . . Sixty is a pretty reasonable
number."

 "... Some researchers noted that obtaining stem cells from private
companies has
been a frustrating experience. Private firms often ask for certain rights
to
discoveries made with their cells, but researchers and universities do
not want
to sign away the power to control or profit from their work.

   HHS Secretary Thompson acknowledged the problem but said it could be
overcome. "We still have some very strong proprietary and patent issues
to work
through, but I have great confidence that they can be addressed."

   He said he talked Thursday to a nonprofit business that owns rights to
five
cell lines and was encouraged by its willingness to cooperate with
researchers..."

----------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn