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> Subject: ARTICLE: Virginia lab's creation of embryos for research spurs debate over stem cells > From: Murray Charters <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 17:03:34 -0700 The Boston Globe Virginia lab's creation of embryos for research spurs debate over stem cells By Sonja Barisic, Associated Press, 7/11/2001 17:46 NORFOLK, Va. (AP) The debate over the ethics of stem-cell research intensified Wednesday with word that Virginia scientists have created human embryos in the lab solely for the valuable cells. Medical ethicists say the development complicates the issue at a time when President Bush is weighing whether federal money should be used for research on embryonic stem cells. Patient groups favor such research because of its breakthrough potential in treating diseases, while anti-abortion groups and others call such work unethical because it entails destroying the embryos. ''The timing of this has been somewhere between disastrous and horrific,'' said Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania. The development ''throws everything in an uproar'' and gives ammunition to those who argue that researchers are headed down a slippery slope. Embryonic stem cells can mature into any cell or tissue. As a result, scientists say they someday may be used to repair or replace damaged tissue or organs in victims of Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer and spinal cord injuries. Until now, researchers derived embryonic stem cells mostly from embryos left over from infertility treatments. Other researchers have derived stem cells from other sources, such as fat cells, bone marrow and aborted fetuses, though the embryonic stem cells are the most useful. In the Virginia case, scientists approached donors and informed them that their eggs and sperm would be used to develop embryos for stem-cell research. Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson criticized the development on his ''700 Club'' television show Wednesday. ''We're on the slippery slope now,'' he said. ''Before long, we'll be harvesting body parts from fully formed people, not just from something in a petri dish. Once you begin this concept of utilitarian use of cells, then everything is up for grabs.'' Kenneth Goodman, director of bioethics at the University of Miami, said such research illustrates the need for federal guidelines. ''The in vitro fertilization industry evolved with almost no regulation, which is why you have bizarre custody disputes over fertilized eggs in refrigerators,'' Goodman said. ''Society, in the form of government, failed to oversee and regulate a controversial industry. For the government now not to support and therefore oversee stem cell research would be another failure. It would allow the research to go forth unregulated again.'' The work was done at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, a private fertility clinic responsible for the birth in 1981 of the nation's first test-tube baby. The findings appeared Wednesday in the journal Fertility and Sterility, a publication of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. The society said it believes the researchers are the first in the United States to have created embryos explicitly for stem cell research. ''At one level, it's cleaner'' ethically than using leftover embryos, society spokesman Sean Tipton said. ''There's no question as to what you're going to do with these embryos. You're going to the individuals up front.'' After consulting with clergy, ethicists and legal professionals, the Jones Institute's ethics committee concluded that creating embryos for research purposes was in keeping with ''our duty to provide humankind with our best understanding of early human development.'' Robin Elliott, executive director of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, which supports research on stem cells from embryos left over from fertility procedures, said the latest development has little to do with the debate in Washington. Research involving the creation of embryos would not be eligible for federal money, he said. ''If this is taken as kind of a new element in the debate that is going to complicate the president's job, that would be disappointing,'' Elliott said. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said that the report illustrates the ''very sensitive'' issues involved in such research and added that Bush would not be rushed into a decision. The researchers extracted 162 eggs from 12 women and fertilized 110 of them with donor sperm. Forty developed to the blastocyst stage a collection of 100 to 300 cells. Researchers destroyed those to get the stem cells inside. A biotech company, Advanced Cell Technology of Massachusetts, has done something similar since early last year. But instead of fertilizing donor eggs with sperm cells, it replaces the nuclei of the donated eggs with genetic material from adult cells, and then clones the results. The company calls the subject of its research an ''ovumsum,'' not an embryo. On the Net: http://asrm.org/Professionals/Fertility&Sterility/fspage.html http://www.jonesinstitute.org SOURCE: The Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/dailynews/192/nation/Virginia_lab_s_creation_of_emb:.s html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn