 |
 |
Regents panel backs stem cell research Measure calls for letting work with embryos go on By MARILYNN MARCHIONE of the Journal Sentinel staff Last Updated: March 8, 2001 Madison - University of Wisconsin officials passed a measure endorsing human embryonic stem cell research, which was pioneered by UW-Madison, and urging state and federal officials to allow it to proceed. A committee of the UW Board of Regents approved the resolution Thursday, and the full board was expected to do the same today. Embryos used in the research were destined to be discarded anyway, and no more would be destroyed as a result of the research, several faculty members told the regents. Stem cells are master, "precursor" cells that can develop into any of the tissues that form the body. Researchers hope to test them as potential treatments for a host of human diseases and as alternatives to organ transplants. In 1998, UW scientist James Thomson became the first to isolate and grow stem cells from donated, leftover embryos from infertility clinics. Days later, researchers at Johns Hopkins University announced they had done the same with cells from aborted fetuses. Abortion opponents oppose such research because the cells came from destroyed embryos and fetuses. The UW and Hopkins groups' work was financed by Geron Corp., a California biotechnology company, because of a 1995 congressional ban on using federal funds for research involving the destruction of human embryos. After the stem cell breakthroughs, National Institutes of Health lawyers studied the ban and concluded that federal money could be used for further research on cell cultures that had been established with private money. But the Bush administration has asked new U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson to review the matter, and Thompson has said he'll appoint a panel of researchers to advise him on the issue. Thomson, the UW researcher, told the regents it would be unethical to throw out leftover embryos "and not do some good with them." "The important point here is these are not embryos created for research," he said. "If this was completely banned, how many embryos would be saved? The answer is zero." Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 9, 2001. http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/mar01/stem09030801a.asp ******