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EDITORIAL: Cloning Advances ... America's Scientists Cannot Sit On Sidelines February 16, 2004 The advances in cloning research announced by scientists at Seoul National University in South Korea should concern Americans for several reasons. First, critically important scientific research with far-reaching implications is moving forward faster in other nations than in the United States. Second, the cloning advances move us closer to the day when some scientist or physician somewhere, acting outside accepted norms, will convince desperate parents that cloning is the only way they can produce a child. These concerns stem from the Bush administration's 2001 decision to limit funding for research in this country to a few lines of stem cells harvested before Aug. 9, 2001. Since that time, research has come to a near standstill in the United States. Congress also shares responsibility for the current state of affairs. Like much of the nation, which still is debating when life begins, it is conflicted over the two types of cloning, reproductive and therapeutic. Reproductive cloning, if it ever succeeds, would allow a researcher to fertilize an egg, which has had genetic material removed, with cells from an adult to produce another human being, a method with similarities to in vitro fertilization. Almost no one supports this idea. Therapeutic cloning, on the other hand, allows scientists to use embryonic stem cells (adult cells also may work, but with limitations) to produce cells that could help regenerate parts of the body permanently damaged by diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, spinal cord damage or severe burns. Currently, the United States has no law banning reproductive cloning, though a number of states, including California, do. The House has voted to ban all forms of human cloning, but the Senate, more closely divided, has not. So the lack of government funding for research and the absence of laws and institutions to oversee whatever process may evolve have left scientists in the United States at a disadvantage, while their peers in Korea, India, Singapore, China, Israel, Japan, England and other nations proceed with the painstaking research, that, in any case, is not likely to yield results for years. "We will be sitting here with the best scientists in the world watching things on television," Dr. Jose B. Cibelli, a professor of animal science at Michigan State University, and the only American on the 15-person Korea team, told The New York Times. Korean scientists were able to produce 30 cloned blastocysts, early human embryos of about 100 cells. From these blastocysts, a stable line of "pluripotent" stem cells could be grown. Pluripotent cells are capable of becoming any cell in the body, thus the potential in regenerative medicine. It is far too early in this research to count the United States out, but Congress must pass laws to provide a framework for this work, and ways must be found to fund basic research. Our scientists cannot sit on the sidelines while this important work is being done. SOURCE: San Diego Union Tribune, CA http://tinyurl.com/2onsv * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn