Harvard's promising proposal
Editorial
Sunday, June 11
Harvard University's decision to attempt to create the world's first cloned
embryonic stem cells is a noble one that holds great promise in finding
treatments for debilitating diseases, such as genetic blood disorders and
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, for which there is no cure. There
are no guarantees that embryonic stem cells can be created, but if research
shows they can, and they are able to save at least one life, isn't that
worth the risk? Too many people have suffered, and died slow debilitating
deaths from these diseases, particularly ALS. One of the goals of scientific
research is to cure diseases. That also should be one of our missions as
human beings.
Research has shown that embryonic stem cells can be used to replicate almost
every cell in the human body, but these cells, taken from frozen early
embryos at fertility clinics planning to discard them, do not have the DNA
that contributes to the diseases that the scientists hope to stop. The idea
behind Harvard's cloning of embryonic stem cells is to create cells that
have the same DNA as the patient who has the disease. The Harvard
researchers plan to extract DNA from the patient and place it in a donated
egg cell where the DNA has already been removed. Once the stem cells have
been grown in a lab, they are placed in the patient, where, in theory, they
will grow into new, healthy tissue.
In addition to Harvard, eight other teams, including one in Worcester, are
also working on the cloning of embryonic stem cells. Unfortunately, none of
them are receiving funding from the federal government. President George W.
Bush five years ago prohibited the government from funding any research that
would create new embryonic stem cells. The Harvard project
is being funded through private sources. Unfortunately, not every research
institution has Harvard's resources, and the White House's medieval
anti-science attitude is blunting research programs and chasing scientists
to more accommodating ground in Europe.
Skeptics should remember that heart transplants were viewed as unreliable if
not immoral when they began in the late 1960s. Some 40 years later, heart
transplants are no longer viewed as an anomaly, and many people who would
have been dead continue to live useful lives because of them. If the current
research at Harvard leads to advances, we may view the cloning of embryonic
stem cells in the same manner 40 years from now.
The Harvard research is dependent upon donations from women who will be
treated with drugs to induce ovulation. There is a risk involved, but
Harvard researchers will outline those risks in appealing to women who want
to help advance a scientific cause. Women will not be throwing caution to
the wind in hopes of financial gain as state law forbids monetary incentives
for stem-cell research.
The cloning of human cells, of course, raises the specter of the creation of
human clones. This may or may not even be possible, but if science refused
to take risks the world would be infested by diseases that have long since
disappeared into history. Harvard is no fly-by-night university and its
project, one that holds so much hope for the future, is worth whatever risks
are involved.

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