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List, Just wanted to share this news with you. My wife Nancy's 27 year fight with PD was included in a report to the House of Lords in May of 2001. It appears that our friends in the UK succeeded in getting embryonic stem cell and therapeutic cloning resesearch approved. Regards, Bob Martone Bob Martone [log in to unmask] http://www.samlink.com/~bmartone -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 6:23 PM To: Bob Martone Subject: Stem cell research Bob, I just wanted to thank you and Nancy again for your contribution to the report 'Parkinson's Disease, 5 case histories, written from a patient's perspective' which I submitted to the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research in May 2001. As you may have heard, the Select Committee published their report today, and it contains everything we wanted. The Committee was set up as a concession to the ProLife Alliance when the House of Lords voted in January 2001 in favour of proposals to change the scope of the law to include provision for research using embryonic stem cells. Their remit was to consider and report on several specific issues connected with human cloning and stem cell research. The Committee took evidence from a whole range of individuals and organisations, including the Parkinson's Disease Society, the Special Parkinson's Research Interest Group (SPRING), and many individuals. Current scientific studies were also examined, especially with regard to the promise of adult stem cells. In a letter today Rachel Haynes, Parliamentary Officer of the Parkinson's Disease Society, writes 'Thank you to everyone who put forward the patient's perspective to the Committee - I know it was persuasive' The full report of the Select Committee can be read at: http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld20010 2/ldselect/ldstem/ 83/8301.htm For lighter reading, you may prefer today's press announcement via AOL , which I have pasted below. With my thanks and very best wishes to you both, Chris Hill ============================== Go-ahead for strictly controlled stem cell research on embryos 27 FEB 2002 By Ananova Stem cell research on embryos which is banned in the United States has been given the go-ahead in the UK by a House of Lords committee. The decision means British scientists can create human embryo clones under tight regulations. Licences for the research are likely to be issued almost immediately. The committee said research on human embryonic stem cells should be allowed under strictly controlled conditions, but any cloning of embryos should be kept to a minimum. The move allows scientists to start research on adult and embryo stem cells - the body's master cells that have the potential to differentiate into any other type of cell in the body. The controversy arises because stem cells are obtained either from "spare" human embryos or from cloned embryos obtained from therapeutic cloning. While reproductive cloning is banned, therapeutic cloning is not and there are fears by critics that today's move could be the start of a "slippery slope" towards reproductive cloning with identical copies of human beings created. The move also gives the go-ahead to a scientific procedure called oocyte nucleus transfer in which an embryo's genes are made up from three parents. The Committee said the procedure should be allowed for research purposes as it could one day benefit people with mitochondrial diseases - a narrow category of disorders that affect a person's metabolism. The Rt Rev Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford and chairman of the Committee, said: "These cells can differentiate into 200 types of cell and are an essential benchmark to discover what is going on." He stressed that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which will regulate the research is the "best regulatory authority" in the world. ====================. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn