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Tuesday November 7 12:57 PM ET Scientists Call for Embryo Stem Cell Research By Patricia Reaney LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists should be allowed to use early human embryos in research to develop powerful new therapies, including cloning to derive stem cells, for a host of human diseases, British experts said on Tuesday. The controversial proposals coincide with the end of a high-profile operation in England to separate Siamese twins that triggered a storm of ethical protests similar to those central to the cloning debate -- that doctors should not play God. The Royal Society of leading scientists said therapeutic cloning and the use of stem cells is a potentially revolutionary new way to treat disease and serious illness, but its progress will be hindered unless research is allowed on human embryos. In Britain, scientists can only use early human embryos to study specific problems such as infertility, congenital diseases, contraception and prenatal diagnosis. But the nation's chief medical officer Dr Liam Donaldson has recommended the law be extended so human embryos can be cloned and used to derive stem cells -- master cells which replicate and generate most of the 200 cell types in the human body. The method could treat diseases ranging from Parkinson's and diabetes to arthritis and strokes. Parliament is expected to vote soon on the recommendation. ``Members of both Houses should accept that this research on early embryos is scientifically necessary,'' said Professor Richard Gardner, chairman of the Royal Society Working Group on Therapeutic Cloning. ``Ten percent of the population could benefit from stem cell therapy,'' he said at the launch of a report on the issue. Interfering With Nature Scientists believe stem cell therapy offers enormous potential to treat and cure degenerative disorders and illnesses by replacing diseased cells or tissue. But because it involves cloning and research on human embryos it has infuriated pro-life groups and sparked an ethical debate about how far scientists should interfere with nature. It is a sensitive issue in Britain where surgeons sacrificed the life of one Siamese twin to save the life of the other against the wishes of their Catholic Maltese parents. The parents wanted to leave the girls joined as they say God intended them, even if it meant certain death for both, but they were overruled by the courts. Therapeutic cloning incites many of the same emotions, as well as fears that it will eventually lead to human reproductive cloning, which scientists vehemently deny. ``Implanting a cloned embryo into a womb will not be allowed, so we will not see productive cloning,'' said Gardner. Dr Sandy Thomas, director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics which has examined the ethical issues involved in therapeutic cloning, also believes human stem cell research should go ahead but said safeguards are needed. Two Sources Of Stem Cells Stem cells are derived from human embryos and fetal tissue, but there is the risk of rejection when it is transplanted. Another solution, which would bypass the rejection problem, is to use adult stem cells, which can make a limited range of specialized cells, and reprogram them by using the nucleus of a donated egg and replacing it with a cell from a patient. The cells cultivated from the resulting embryo would be genetically almost identical to the patient and would not stimulate an immune response. After scientists learn how the egg reprograms a cell to make a stem cell line, scientists may be able to create stem cells directly from patients without creating an embryo. Although most of the research into stem cells has involved animal studies, scientists know much more about embryonic stem cells than they do about reprogramming adult stem cells. Without further embryonic stem cell research Gardner said scientists might never be able to overcome the hurdles facing them in the development of adult stem cell therapy techniques. ``Research using both sources of stem cells should go ahead,'' he said, adding that if it doesn't continue in Britain it will go ahead in other countries. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001107/sc/cloning_dc_1.html