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Monday, March 19, 2001 Group proposes rules for embryonic stem cell research By DENNIS BUECKERT-- The Canadian Press OTTAWA (CP) -- A federal advisory committee will propose that researchers be permitted to replicate human embryonic stem cells, says a source at the centre of the issue. The cell-replication process is sometimes referred to as cloning but the procedure is far different from that which produced Dolly the sheep. The stem cells would be obtained from balls of cells known as blastocysts or pre-implantation embryos, created by in vitro fertilization for fertility treatments but no longer needed. The cells would not be allowed to mature beyond a certain point, said the source, and consent of parents for their use would be required. Currently there is no process for obtaining such consent. The guidelines have been drafted by a committee of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, said the source, and will be opened to public comment before being adopted. If the cell-replication is approved, Canada would likely become a major player in stem cell research, perhaps the hottest area of modern medicine. The proposed approach is similar to Britain's but contrasts with that of the United States, where stem cell research has been caught in the crossfire over abortion. The U.S. government will not permit funding to be used for stem cell research. It is believed that stem cells, which have the capacity to develop into any human organ, could open the way to new treatments for many diseases. Critics say stem cells can only be obtained by destroying an early human embryo and so the process raises the same issues as abortion. Researchers say a blastocyst, a tiny ball of cells, has not matured enough to be considered an embryo and the material would otherwise be treated as medical waste. Canadian researchers have long worked with mice embryonic cells, but early work with human stem cells has shown they are fundamentally different from those of mice. "To understand to early human development, it's very, very important," said the source. Marcel Chartrand, a spokesman for the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, declined to comment on the guidelines, saying they will probably be made public next week. http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSScience0103/19_science-cp.html ********** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn