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Austin American Statesman Battle for embryos brings out the usual suspects, and then some By Kathleen Kerr Newsday Saturday, June 16, 2001 A legal battle over the fate of thousands of frozen human embryos has attracted an oddball collection of players: an actor, a lawyer who worked on President Bush's Florida election team, abortion opponents and several scientists. At stake is stem cell research that could someday lead to cures for 'spinal cord injuries and diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's. Stem cells -- possessing a nearly magical ability to grow into tissues found throughout the human body -- can be extracted from human embryos and are a crucial element for such research. But the Bush administration has put a hold on federal money for research that uses stem cells extracted from human embryos. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has asked a panel to examine the ramifications of a Clinton administration rule that would allow the use of human embryos as a stem cell source. Bush has indicated he opposes embryonic stem cell research. Thompson has noted that stem cell research could lead to new treatments and cures, and, while governor of Wisconsin, he praised the University of Wisconsin researcher who discovered human embryonic stem cells. "Hopefully, we'll come up with a decision that's going to allow for the continuation of research, which is very important, and at the same time take into consideration the legal and the ethical questions that have to be considered," he said this week. Rival lawsuits Two lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., are presenting opposing arguments in the stem cell debate. Insisting that embryos are children who should be adopted and not used to provide stem cells for science, two anti-abortion groups have sued in an attempt to permanently block government financing of embryonic stem cell research. The groups, the Tennessee-based Christian Medical Association, representing 14,000 doctors and dentists, and California-based Nightlight Christian Adoption, name the Department of Health and Human Services and Thompson as defendants in the lawsuit. Nightlight runs a program that arranges for would-be parents to "adopt" a frozen embryo from couples who have extras left over from their own fertility procedures. The embryo is implanted in the uterus of a so-called adoptive mother who then gives birth. Such an embryo transfer isn't legally recognized as adoption and is accomplished via contracts. Abortion-rights advocates contend the lawsuit represents a back-door attack on abortion rights guaranteed by the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision by treating embryos as adoptable children. "It's part of the overall effort by opponents of abortion rights," said Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. But Samuel Casey, a lawyer with Human Rights Advocates, one of two law firms handling the lawsuit, insists the embryos are "pre-born children" in need of rescue. "We are seeing a refugee population (the embryos) that nobody wants," Casey said. "We should offer them a place where they can live free. They're on death row now." Along with Casey, Thomas Hungar, who was on the legal team that helped Bush prevail in the Florida election battle, represents the anti-abortion groups. Superman and scientists Now, some stem cell researchers have struck back with a lawsuit that seeks to force the Bush administration to start funding work involving the controversial cells. With actor Christopher Reeve of "Superman" fame, seven scientists have sued to preserve federal backing for their work. Reeve, paralyzed since a horseback riding accident several years ago, backs stem cell research, which holds out hope for new treatments for spinal cord injuries. The embryos in question -- preserved in liquid nitrogen in fertility clinics across the country -- belong to couples who, in a quest for offspring, underwent fertility treatments and produced a number of embryos, which were frozen to keep them viable. But once a pregnancy is achieved and leftover embryos are no longer needed, they can be destroyed unless they're donated to science. Because federal law bans federal funding for experimentation on embryos, under the Clinton rule, those scientists who receive government money would not be permitted to extract the cells from the embryos. Instead, scientists would receive cells from government-approved private researchers who would remove them from embryos created during in vitro fertilization. Embryos couldn't be created for the sole purpose of research. "There's no question that it's a politically awkward situation for the Bush administration," says bioethicist Tom Murray, president of the Hastings Center think tank in Garrison, N.Y. "On the one hand they have a policy put in place by the previous administration, and they also have a secretary of Health and Human Services on the record supportive of embryonic stem cell research," Murray notes. "On the other side are people and groups with right-to-life convictions who see the taking apart of an embryo to create stem cells as murder, so I don't doubt the authenticity of their beliefs." This article includes material from The Washington Post. http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/today/news_33.html ********** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn