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Australia Grants License To Create Cloned Human Embryos Posted on: Wednesday, 17 September 2008, 15:50 CDT The Australian government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) said Wednesday it has granted its first license allowing scientists to create cloned human embryos to obtain embryonic stem cells. The license was issued to the in vitro-fertilization firm Sydney IVF, which reportedly has access to 7,200 human eggs for its research. If the company is successful in its endeavor, it would be the first in the world, according to NHMRC. Although scientists in other countries have used a variety of techniques to make stem cells that are similar to embryonic cells, none have successfully obtained embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos. Australia lifted its ban on such research, known as therapeutic cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer, in December 2006 amid an unusual parliamentary conscience vote. However, national legislation still restricts the use of excess IVF embryos and the creation and use of other embryos in research is restricted, and all human cloning for reproductive purposes is prohibited. Somatic cell nuclear transfer is a method in which DNA from the nucleus of an unfertilized egg is removed and replaced with the nucleus of an adult cell, such as a skin cell. The technique can be used to create cloned embryos in order to obtain embryonic stem cells for therapeutic applications, but can also be used for reproductive cloning. Dr John Findlay, who heads the NHMRC's licensing committee, said the council would closely monitor Sydney IVF's research. "They have been given a license to do therapeutic cloning," Findlay said during an interview with Reuters. The scientists are not permitted to reach the fetal stage, he said. "They can go to the stage called blastocyst. They must stop at that point,? referring to extremely early-stage embryo not yet implanted into the womb. According to Findlay, scientists will seek to create stem cells from patients who have abnormalities or create stem cell lines compatible with patients that have donated the cells. Initially, any extracted stem cells would be used to test new drugs to combat diseases such as Huntington?Ts disease or muscular dystrophy, which would be followed by therapeutic cloning to produce body tissue matched to patients. David van Gend, director of Australians for Ethical Stem Cell Research, criticized the license grant, saying the new technology was no longer necessary. "We have regulations in Australia such that the abuses of cloning wouldn't happen here, we will not get live birth cloning," he said during a local radio program. "We won't get cloning right through to the fetal stage in order to use them for organ transplants, but if we teach the world how to clone you can be quite sure it will be used in less rigorous jurisdictions." Although there are many types of stem cells, embryonic stem cells made from days-old embryos are considered the best because they can differential to all the different cell types in the body. Sydney IVF said it would only use eggs unusable for IVF in its research, and which donors had given permission for their use. Such eggs may have been immature or not properly fertilized. The company said it would produce the cloned embryos from three different types of cells: embryonic stem cells, cumulus cells attached to the collected eggs, and skin cells. In 2004, Sydney IVF was first to extract stem cells from Australian IVF embryos, and has since extracted and grown ten additional colonies of embryonic stem cells using this technique. Rayilyn Brown Director AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn