Stem cell stalemate: Minnesota authors say U.S. falling behind other nations

REUTERS/Ho NewAn early-stage cloned embryo called a blastocyst.
By Sharon Schmickle
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
America's competitive spirit has been the envy of the world.
But is it slipping?
Look to stem cell research, and you find unsettling answers to that profound 
question, say two Minnesota authors in their forthcoming book, "The Stem 
Cell Dilemma."
While America is stalled in a moral debate over cells derived from embryos, 
other countries are moving apace with the potentially lucrative research 
that is expected to define medicine's next frontier, say authors Dr. Leo 
Furcht and William Hoffman.

"Across the globe, among states within nations, and even among research 
institutions, stem cells have become tools of competition," they say.
Asian countries, in particular, are investing heavily in the research, 
"without heated public debate over the moral status of the human embryo," 
they say.
Nothing short of a "biorenaissance" is underway around the world, the 
authors assert.
And the United States holds no rights on the leadership despite its 
impressive record of scientific achievement.  "Since 1940, American 
scientists have garnered more than 200 Nobel awards, more than three times 
the number won by European scientists," Furcht and Hoffman say.
But now, they say, "science and technology constitute a molten force on the 
global landscape, flowing to wherever they can flourish."

The stakes go beyond economic benefit and prestige. They extend to urgent 
national security problems at a time when many experts predict that 
biological weapons will inevitably be used again. Stem cells are an 
important line of defense because they carry natural power to heal wounds 
and regenerate nerves and tissue.

"It is no accident that defense agencies are funding stem cell research," 
the authors say. "The monumental push in the wake of 9/11 to understand how 
best to protect the human immune system in the event of a bioweapons attack 
has helped to turn a page in biomedical science that cannot be turned back."

One revelation in the book is that the U.S. Department of Defense is funding 
stem cell research to build an artificial immune system that could be used 
to test vaccines in case of a bioterrorism attack.

Furcht chairs the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the 
University of Minnesota Medical School. Hoffman is a long-time writer and 
editor at the school. Arcade Publishing is set to release their book in 
April.

Controversy here and there
Furcht and Hoffman are not the first to sound alarms that foot-dragging over 
stem cells may cost the United States economically and competitively. That 
prospect has been the subject of several congressional hearings since 2001 
when President Bush restricted federal funding for research on stem cells 
derived from embryos.
Indeed, a map http://www.mbbnet.umn.edu/scmap.html Hoffman developed was 
displayed at the U.S. Senate last year. It depicts the United States along 
with parts of Africa, South America and the Middle East as the largest 
regions with restrictive policies or no policies on the research.
Countries in brown have permissive or flexible policies on human embryonic 
stem cell research and have banned human reproductive cloning. The United 
States along with parts of Africa, South America and the Middle East have 
restrictive policies or no policies on the research.

Source: William Hoffman, MBBNet, University of Minnesota

But some other highly developed countries also are skittish about at least 
some aspects of the studies. Germany, still wrestling with dark memories of 
Nazi-era eugenics and human experimentation, is cautious about genetics and 
stem cell research. So are Poland, Italy and several other countries.

On the other side of the picture, the United Kingdom has lured away top U.S. 
scientists with its wide-open race to develop stem cells. Even so, there are 
apparently some limits. In their Easter sermons this week, Roman Catholic 
clergymen attacked a bill intended to update the United Kingdom's regulatory 
framework for fertility treatment and embryo research.

The legislation would allow scientists to create embryos for purposes of 
harvesting the stem cells by transferring human DNA into animal eggs that 
have had most of their genetic information removed. Proponents of the 
legislation say such "hybrid embryos" would advance research into diseases 
such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. A shortage of human eggs for embryo 
creation has held up the studies.

In his Easter sermon, the Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh described 
the legislation as a "monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and 
human life," adding that it would allow experiments of "Frankenstein 
proportion," the BBC reported.


Rayilyn Brown
Board Member AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation
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