 |
 |
Embryonic stem cell research to get funding 'A great pity,' ethicist says Margaret Munro, with files from Michael Higgins National Post Wednesday, May 14, 2003 Officials at Canada's leading medical research agency will wait no longer for federal legislation and are gearing up to finance experiments on potent, and controversial, stem cells created from leftover human embryos. "We're going to proceed," said Dr. Alan Bernstein, president of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, which has been waiting for more than a year for Ottawa to pass Bill C-13, which would govern new reproductive technologies, ban cloning and spell out how human embryos can be used in research. The CIHR, a main sponsor of Canadian university medical research, was set to start financing experiments on human embryonic stem cells more than a year ago. After an outcry from politicians and pro-life groups, Dr. Bernstein promised to hold off funding any work until April 1, 2003, expecting the federal government would pass Bill C-13 in the interim. "It is now May," Dr. Bernstein said. Dr. Bernstein still hopes the legislation will pass, but he said he feels his agency owes it to the research community to fill the regulatory void and start reviewing and funding research proposals. "We need to move forward," he said in a telephone interview. Dr. Margaret Somerville, the founding director of McGill University's Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, criticized the CIHR haste. "I think it is a great pity. A pity for science and the integrity of science." She said she believes the CIHR should have waited for Bill C-13 to pass, "out of respect for the democratic process -- because this is a very contentious area. "Scientists always want to get on with what they are doing. But this science is not just about science, it is about some of our most important and profound values," Dr. Somerville said. Ted Gerk, director of the Campaign Life Coalition in British Columbia, said, "It is very, very regrettable that they would take this course of action. We are rushing headlong into science without any thought as to ethics or morals or anything. We are doing it simply because we can." Bill C-13 is expected to come up for final approval in the House of Commons in two weeks. It will then have to go to the Senate, whose members will be under pressure to pass the bill before the summer recess in late June. Dr. Bernstein noted researchers elsewhere are busy working on embryonic stem cells that may revolutionize the treatment of many diseases. It is believed the cells can be coaxed to turn into any tissue in the body and researchers dream of using them to repair ailing hearts and brains. "Research in the rest of the world, even in the U.S. where there is a much more conservative regime in place, is going forward," said Dr. Bernstein, who finds it "unacceptable" not to let research proceed in Canada. "There are a number of people chomping at the bit" to begin such research in Canada, he said. Dr. Ron Worton, of the University of Ottawa and head of the national stem cell research network, said some Canadian researchers have been waiting for almost two years to proceed with research on embryonic stem cells as are being used by scientists in Europe and the United States. "We strongly believe it is right to be doing these experiments," said Dr. Worton. "I think we should just get on with it." He, like Dr. Bernstein, stresses that any research that goes forward will follow the rules in the proposed legislation. "We agree with the spirit of legislation and it is in that spirit that we are proceeding," Dr. Worton said. Experiments approved and funded are to be governed by strict guidelines, which a CIHR expert committee released in March, 2002, and which have been incorporated into Bill C-13. They will be enforced by a CIHR oversight committee, which is now being formed. Health Canada is aware CIHR is moving forward, Dr. Bernstein said. Bill C-13 would ban human cloning and creation of embryos solely for the purpose of research. It would permit the use of surplus embryos for medical research until 14 days after conception. It is expected the bill will soon be passed in the House despite protests from the Canadian Alliance and pro-life groups that argue it would allow destruction of human embryos produced in the course of fertility treatments. Dr. Bernstein said the CIHR intends to proceed whether the bill passes or not. On its Web site on Monday, the agency posted a call for nominations for 12 people to sit on a "stem cell oversight committee." The committee members are to be named in early June. Dr. Bernstein said the committee will fill the "regulatory vacuum," at least until legislation is passed, to ensure experiments proceed in an ethical fashion. He said he is unaware of any Canadian researchers working with human embryonic stem cells, but said there is no law or rules to stop them. There are several Canadian teams working with adult stem cells, which exist in the blood and other parts of the body. [log in to unmask] SOURCE: The National Post, Canada http://www.nationalpost.com/national/story.html?id=970A90BB-203C-485B- 914A-C427635B8C61 * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn