FROM: The Weekend Australian
April 6, 2002, Saturday
HEADLINE: States agree to PM's stem-cell limits - THE LEADERS DECIDE
BYLINE: John Kerin
THE procedure that produced Dolly the sheep, and could potentially
offer
breakthrough treatments for genetic diseases, will be banned in Australia
under
a national agreement decided yesterday.
The states signed up to John Howard's plan to give scientists the
right to
use spare embryos from in-vitro fertilisation programs for research into
debilitating illnesses such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and
diabetes.
But the legislation will include a ban on "therapeutic cloning",
which
leading researchers warned yesterday would leave Australia falling behind
in
research.
In a deal struck at the Council of Australian Governments meeting in
Canberra, it was decided scientists would have access to about 70,000
existing
embryos stored in medical facility freezers around the country that had
been
deemed as surplus by donors.
The embryos, which can be stored for up to 10 years in most states,
are
destroyed if not used, and donors must give permission for their use.
Dolly the sheep was the first animal to be cloned using genetically
matched
embryos involving a process known as "somatic-cell nuclear transfer".
In humans, "therapeutic cloning" involves implanting a patient's
adult cells
into an egg cell to reproduce embryonic stem cells.
Australia's leading stem-cell researcher, Alan Trounson, warned last
night
the Howard decision could leave Australia lagging and force patients to
travel
to Britain, where such research was allowed.
"If British researchers are able to produce breakthroughs in this
line of
research, what are we going to do?" Professor Trounson said.
John White, of the Australian Academy of Science, welcomed the
national
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The Weekend Australian April 6, 2002, Saturday
agreement but also criticised aspects of the decision. "There are other
options,
but therapeutic cloning offers possibilities," he said.
Responding to Professor White's comments, Mr Howard said on Sydney
radio:
"He is not speaking for the entire scientific community ... if you want
to quote
scientists, Dr Trounson has broadly welcomed the proposals that I
outlined
yesterday."
Government sources suggested therapeutic cloning would be banned
because it
involved the creation of an embryo for research purposes and raised
sensitive
issues of respect for human life.
Earlier, Mr Howard declared the states and the commonwealth had
reached a
"magnificent and enlightened outcome" on stem-cell research.
The states and the commonwealth are expected to have complementary
uniform
legislation in place by June.
After initially having rejected Mr Howard's package on the eve of the
COAG
meeting, the states secured two minor concessions from Mr Howard
yesterday.
Embryo donors only have to give general consent. Mr Howard wanted
experimentation restricted to existing surplus embryos but this
restriction
expires in three years.
An ethics committee has been established to examine a regime to
ensure
embryos are not created for research purposes.
THE GUIDELINES
- Uniform federal, state and territory laws. Conscience votes in
federal and
state parliaments allowed by major parties - to be introduced from June
2002.
- Research permitted only on surplus IVF embryos now but this will
lapse on
April 5, 2005.
- Embryo donors to give permission for research
- Health Ethics Committee to look at regime to ensure embryos are not
created for the purpose of scientific research
- Ban on all forms of human cloning including so-called 'therapeutic
cloning'
- Laws to be reviewd in three years
- National Health and Medical Research Council to oversee research
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