 |
 |
Following is an editorial that appeared in todays New York Times: The breakthrough in growing human stem cells in the laboratorywith private funding is not only a stunning achievement, it is a rebuke to Congress for banning Federal funding of this exciting research.Scientists are now poised to explore new therapies for dreadful diseases. Yet thanks to a Copngreesional ban on Federal funding for most research on embryos, the government may find it hard to accelerate a promising field or moniter its ethical issues. The research involves cultivating "human embryonic stem cells" before they have begun to differentiate into the specialized cells that form the individual parts of the body. It opens the way to grow heart cells for cardiac patients, brain tissue for Parkinson"s patients, or bone marrow to treat leukemia and other cancers. Such treatments are years away.Scientists must first learn how to nudge the stem cells to develop into specific tissues and organs, and they must keep the transplanted cells from being rejected by a patients immune system Thus the first use of these cells will almost certainly be for research. Whether the Government can play a significant role is uncertain. At least one of the studies just reported would almost certainly have been barred from the Federal funding by the Congressional ban on embryo research. This is a sad state given that the gains are potentilly enormous and the ethical problems appear minimal.One research team used cells from fertilized eggs that would otherwise would have been discarded after treating infertile couples, and the other used cells from already aborted fetuses.They literally created a major advance from cells that would other wise have been wasted. Lorraine Jeffe