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[CurePD-NorCal] National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC
Date:
2 Oct 1999 11:05:32 -0000
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Subject: Washington Fax September 14, 1999 - From PAN
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 08:53:46 -0700
Below please find a story taken from the September 14 issue of the
Washington Fax, an online information source covering national
medical
and political news. The article discusses the recently
announced
recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory
Commission (NBAC)
regarding federal funding of stem cell research and provides an
update
on the status of this important medical research issue.
Subscribers to this Listserve may be particularly interested
in
President Clinton’s comments listing Parkinson’s
patients as likely
beneficiaries of
advances in stem cell research.
As a founding member of the Patients’ CURe (Patients’
Coalition for
Urgent Research), the Parkinson’s Action Network works
in concert with
a broad alliance of patient groups to educate Congress
and the public
and encourage support for federal funding of stem cell
research.
While pursuing the important work of the Patients’
CURe,
the Network
remains focused on the other priorities of the
Parkinson’s community,
including
doing everything possible to increase the level and
focus of federal
funding for Parkinson’s research.
Questions, comments or requests for more information
should be directed
to the Network’s Policy Coordinator, Michael Claeys, at
(202) 628-2079
or emailed to [log in to unmask]
NATIONAL BIOETHICS ADVISORY COMMISSION RELEASES FINAL
STEM CELL
RECOMMENDATIONS
As expected, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission
(NBAC), in a
final report issued late yesterday, has recommended
that
"research
involving the derivation and use" of stem cells from
human embryos
should be eligible for federal funding, asserting that
the current ban
on publicly supported embryo research raises "serious
moral and public
policy concerns."
"In our view, the ban conflicts with several of the
ethical goals of
medicine and related health disciplines, especially
healing, prevention
and research," the report states. "These goals are
rightly
characterized by the principles of beneficence and
nonmaleficence,
which jointly encourage pursuing social benefits and
avoiding or
ameliorating potential harm."
NBAC restricts its recommendation for federal funding
to
work with
human embryos "remaining after infertility treatments"
and to work with
aborted fetuses. The commission opposes using federal
funds for
research with embryos created solely for scientific
purposes, saying
that, in addition to the moral problems involved,
leftover embryos,
along with aborted fetuses--a stem cell source already
available to
federally-funded scientists--should "provide an
adequate
supply" of
material, at least for the time being.
President Clinton, who last November asked NBAC to
review stem cell
research, issued a statement commending the
commissioners for their
"thoroughness" in seeking all points of view. He did
not
comment
directly on the report's recommendations.
Clinton, however, noted that "the scientific results
that have emerged
in just the past few months already strengthen my hope
that one day,
stem cells will be used to replace cardiac muscle cells
for people with
heart disease, nerve cells for thousands of Parkinson's
patients, or
insulin-producing cells for children who suffer from
diabetes."
Recent advancements in deriving stem cells from human
embryos have
prompted great excitement among patient advocates and
scientists, given
the stem cells' potential to become almost any type of
human tissue and
to be a new source for a host of regenerative
therapies.
However,
opponents of embryo research say scientists should seek
other methods
of achieving the same ends and should not destroy what
is potentially a
human life solely for medical purposes.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) stoked the
controversy earlier
this year when, citing a legal opinion issued by the
Department of
Health and Human Services, it asserted that the
existing
ban on embryo
research does not legally block federal grantees from
working with
embryonic stem cells, as long as the cells are derived
with private
funds.
NIH currently is trying to develop guidelines that
could
allow grantees
to seek funding for work with stem cells obtained from
private sources.
The final NBAC report rewords language from a previous
draft version
that said, among other things, that there is "no
compelling ethical
justification for distinguishing between the
derivation
and use of
human stem cells."
The final report focuses on the scientific importance
of
supporting
both use and derivation of stem cells. It argues that
"although some
may view the derivation and use of (embryonic stem)
cells as ethically
distinct activities, we do not believe these
differences
are
significant from the point of view of eligibility of
federal funding."
"This separation--under which neither biomedical
researchers at NIH nor
scientists at universities and other research
institutions that rely on
federal support could participate in some aspects of
this
research--rests on the mistaken notion that the two
areas of research
are so distinct that participating in one need not mean
participating
in the other," the report states. "We believe this is a
misrepresentation of the new field of human stem cell
research and this
misrepresentation could adversely affect scientific
progress for
several reasons."
NBAC notes that research in which stem cells are
extracted from human
embryos can provide scientists with information crucial
to both basic
understanding of cellular process and to the
development
of stem
cell-based therapies. The report states that those who
want to see stem
cell research obtain the maximum scientific and
therapeutic benefits
"within a system of
appropriate ethical oversight" should be "dissatisfied
with a position"
that allows funding for use but not derivation.
Tim Leshan, director of public policy for the American
Society for Cell
Biology, said the NBAC report is "important" because
the
commission's
work involved "a diverse body of folks looking at the
various
recommendations and clearly coming down on the side of
derivation and
use."
Several observers also noted that the NBAC report
should
spur action on
the NIH guidelines, which the agency initially had
planned to release
this summer, and should stimulate a much-needed debate
on Capitol Hill.
--Matthew Davis
The report is to made available today on the NBAC web
site:
http://www.bioethics.gov
_______________
--
Charlotte Mancuso
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