http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/sc/story.html?s=v/nm/19990223/sc/cells_1.html
February 23, 1999
U.S. Official Defends Controversial Cell Research
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary
Donna Shalala Tuesday defended controversial research on cells derived
from human embryos, saying it offers ''extraordinary'' promise for
medical advances.
Shalala also told a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing that the
Clinton administration believes research on ''stem cells'' is legal.
``The promise of this research for the treatment of diabetes, for
Parkinson's ... is just extraordinary and we believe that we are acting
within the law,'' Shalala said.
Stem cells have the potential to develop into any kind of cell in the
body. But some people object to their use when they are derived from
human embryos. Federal law forbids experimentation on human embryos.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Harold Varmus said last
month HHS lawyers had decided that if private researchers get the cells
from embryos and create what are known as cell lines, it is legal to use
federal funds to work with the cell lines.
The idea is to use them to grow tissues and perhaps complete organs to
treat disease, devise better tests for drugs and study basic human
development.
Scientists say the cells do not have the potential to grow into human
beings and thus cannot be classified as embryos.
Varmus said the NIH had set up an oversight committee to draft
guidelines for using the cells. He said research would not go ahead
until the guidelines had been drawn up.
Last week, 70 members of Congress wrote to Shalala to object to the NIH
decision.
``Any NIH action to initiate funding of such research would violate both
the letter and the spirit of the federal law,'' the lawmakers wrote.
Shalala's response came at a hearing about her budget for fiscal year
2000, but Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, who chairs the
subcommittee, brought up the stem cell issue in questioning Shalala and
NIH chiefs.
Specter pressed some of the heads of NIH institutes to speculate on a
time frame within which stem cell research might be used to help treat
diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
``That is going to be a real battleground for the future,'' said
Specter, who favors stem cell research. ``To the extent that we are
armed with specifics for what you think we can accomplish, from the
experts, I think this will be very, very helpful.''
``I think the promise there is so much that we have got to press
ahead,'' added Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat on the subcommittee who
also has taken an interest in stem cell research.
Specter asked the heads of each institute to submit written assessments
of how stem cell research might help in their medical fields.
``I'm very optimistic about the treatment of Parkinson's disease because
we know where it originates and the type of cells involved in the
disease,'' said Dr. Gerald Fischbach, director of the National Institute
of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Fischbach said scientists were starting to make progress with brain cell
transplants. Parkinson's, which is incurable, is caused when certain
brain cells die and stop producing dopamine, a message-carrying chemical
vital to movement.
Scientists have said they think stem cells could be trained to grow into
brain cells and used to replace those missing cells.
``My best guess, my hope, is that within the next 10 years that stem
cells will be extremely important in this effort,'' Fischbach said.
But Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging,
would not be drawn into guessing a date for a cure or treatment for
Alzheimer's, another disease in which brain cells die.
``In reality, a great deal remains to be learned about when the disease
starts,'' Hodes said.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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