US committee ready to endorse embryo cell research

WASHINGTON, July 14, 1999 (Reuters) - Experts who advise President Bill
Clinton on biotechnology are ready to endorse some kinds of research using
cells taken from human embryos, the White House said on Wednesday.

The National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) has been leaning toward
allowing federal funding of research involving the stem cells, which have
the potential to give rise to any kind of cell in the body.

Researchers hope to use them for tissue transplants to help people with
diseases such as heart disease or PARKINSON'S disease, for drug tests and
even as possible replacements for organ transplants.

The NBAC, which includes scientists, patient advocates, ethicists and
philosophers, has been finishing its advisory report at a meeting that ended
on Wednesday in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

``NBAC has completed its deliberations and appears ready to endorse the
medical promise and ethical acceptability of certain types of human stem
cell research,'' the White House statement said. ``The Clinton
administration recognizes that human stem cell technology's potential
medical benefits are compelling and worthy of pursuit, so long as the
research is conducted according to the highest ethical standards.''

The research has been controversial because it involves the use of human
embryos. They are currently taken from clinics working with in vitro
fertilization (IVF or test-tube) attempts.

Many times embryos -- at a very early stage after fertilization -- are left
over and couples can donate them for research, keep them for later use or
have them destroyed.

Opponents of stem cell research say these early embryos are human beings and
should not be destroyed or manipulated in any way that could harm them. Many
scientists and patients argue the embryos are balls of just a few cells and
are destined for destruction anyway.

Harold Shapiro, head of the NBAC and president of Princeton University, had
said the panel would probably endorse the use of some tissue, but not the
deliberate creation of human embryos for simple research.

The White House said that position would stand.

``The president's 1994 ban on the use of federal funds for the creation of
human embryos for research purposes will remain in effect. No other legal
actions are necessary at this time, because it appears that human embryonic
stem cells will be available from the private sector,'' the statement said.

``Publicly funded research using these cells is permissible under the
current congressional ban on human embryo research.''

Dr. Harold Varmus, head of the National Institutes of Health, has said it
would be legal to fund scientists who use embryonic stem cells so long as
they do not themselves extract the cells from the embryos.

Many private companies do that and at least one, Geron (Nasdaq:GERN - news),
is exploring the possibility of creating human embryos for the express
purpose of obtaining the cells.
Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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