Dear Listmembers


Having recently participated in a BBC "Cloning" documentary which was
based on "Dolly the Sheep" technology, I would like to comment on this
subject.

I would first of all like to point out that although personally I do not
view this treatment as something I could accept, I certainly would not
attempt to preach or dictate to those who are in favour. It has
certainly created great debate within the Parkinson community in
Scotland, which can only be good for all of us living withPD.

I had the opportunity to put some questions to the Scientist who hopes
to use this technology in the future, at The Brain Repair Centre at
Addenbrooks Hospital, Cambridge, England. I have listed a few, I hope
you find them useful.

The Scientist first of all told me that The Scientific community is not
happy in using aborted fetus for which a PD patient requires 5 for Fetal
cell transplantation and would rather concentrate on Stem Cells
research, as others have said previously abortions are not carried out
for this purpose, what happens in Britain is that the person having the
abortion is asked if they would agree to the fetus being used for
medical research a permission form has to be signed.

(Stem Cells)

Q: If in the future you were able to inject new dopamine producing cells
into the brain of a PWP, would the same degeneration that attacked our
cells originally not just re occur?

A: In the rat model with PD that we have used the degeneration did not
re-occur.

Q: Would our body reject these cells?

A: The chances of this are greatly reduced given the fact that the cells
are cloned from the patient themselves.

Q:  Are the cells injected into the Substania Nigra?

A: No the cells would not be able to "Travel" or survive, they would be
injected in the part of the brain where the dopamine is usually sent to
from the Substantia nigra.

Q:What would happen if something went wrong after the cells were
introduced to the brain?

A: This has not happened in the rat model, however all scientific
research has some risks attached.

Q: As no 2 PWP are the same and given the fact that the true causes of
PD are still not fully known, would all patients have the same benefit
of the stem cells?

A: We do realise that everyone with PD is different, unless we try
however we will never know.

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Hopefully, despite adverse reactions to numerous PD drugs I have the
luxury of having many more drugs available to me, If I was in the
advanced stages of PD I do not know if I would change my opinion of this
technology, I think you really have to be in that position to decide.

The scientists are unsure as to the timescale of this Therapeutic
Cloning happening ,it could be years away, however remember that in the
case of Dolly the Sheep, geneticists throughout the world said it
couldn't be done the next day it happened!!

For those of you who are interested in the transcripts from the
documentary where the Cloning Technology is explained here is the link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/news/frontline/transcripts/when_gerry/met_dolly.shtml


To those of you who decide to opt for this when it becomes available,
 GOOD LUCK & BEST WISHES

Gerry McCann 37/2