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Cell growers pitch Senators on plans WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thursday December 3 9:22 AM ET - Researchers who created controversy by growing human stem cells asked Congress Wednesday to allow federal funding of such work, saying it might provide a cure for Parkinson's disease within a few years. But they added the breakthroughs may never be developed to their full potential if Congress decides that current laws forbid such funding. ``The number of diseases that can be treated will increase exponentially (with federal funding),'' Dr. James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin, who led one of the teams that has grown the stem cells, told a Senate panel. ``The current ban in the U.S. on the use of federal funding for human embryo research discourages the majority of the best U.S. researchers from advancing this promising area of medical research.'' Thomson was one of several researchers questioned by the panel, which is trying to decide if their experiments offer great hope for humanity, or are a moral and ethical nightmare. At issue is whether a law banning the use of federal funds for embryo research covers those experiments. The stem cells grown by the scientists have the potential to become any kind of cell -- from blood cells to skin cells to brain cells. If that process can be controlled, they might be used for tissue transplants. Possibilities include cures for Parkinson's disease and juvenile diabetes-which are caused by the destruction of key cells in the brain and the pancreas, respectively-and new ways to treat heart disease, which is striking growing numbers of America's aging population. ``The potential benefits of this work are rather awe-inspiring,'' said Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa. But it also involves the use of human embryonic cells, which troubles many people. There have been objections from groups ranging from anti-abortion organizations to biotechnology writer Jeremy Rifkind about the use of human embryos, and on the mixing of human and animal cells. ``The discussion we will be carrying on today is one that will challenge ethicists and theologians,'' Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said in opening the hearing of a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Scientists want to harvest the stem cells as tissue transplants, to test drugs and perhaps eventually to grow entire organs such as a heart or a liver in the lab. Three groups of researchers have reported breakthroughs in that area in the past month. Thomson's team, funded in part by Geron Corp (Nasdaq:GERN - news), induced human blastocysts -- clumps of cells a few days old that are grown from fertilized eggs-to develop into stem cells in a laboratory dish. In a second study, John Gearhart of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and colleagues, also partly funded by Geron, took primordial sperm and egg cells from aborted fetuses and grew them into stem cells. A team at Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology said it fused human cells into cow eggs using cloning technology to grow stem cells. National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Harold Varmus said private companies would only fund such basic research so far, because of the need to make profits. Federal funding is needed to encourage such studies, which can take years to produce results. Asked how long it might take to produce cells that could treat Parkinson's patients, Gearhart said five to 10 years and Thomson said ``several.'' Dr. Michael West, president and chief executive of Advanced Cell, estimated anywhere from seven to 20 years, depending on the level of federal funding. ``The government has an important role to play in supporting the basic science that underpins this research,'' Harkin said. But Harkin said the promise of the research posed ethical questions as well. ``I believe it is morally wrong to prevent our world-class scientists from building on this process,'' he said. ``As long as this research is conducted in an ethically valid manner, it should continue and it should receive government support.'' President Bill Clinton's advisers on such matters, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, will also consider the issues. They meet in January to start discussions. By Maggie Fox Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited janet paterson - 51 now /41 dx /37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada [log in to unmask]