Stem Cell Research - Promises and Challenges - LWV of the Los Altos-Mountain View Area

STEM CELL FORUM reported by Pat Frischmann
Stanford experts in biochemistry and legal ethics laid out scientific, moral, legal, ethical, and political issues surrounding stem cell research for a standing-room-only crowd at an August 10 educational public forum co-sponsored by our League.
In November, Californians will vote on whether to fund a stem cell research institute.
Stem cells--single cells that morph into other types of cells--have been used in medicine for years, explained Dr. Paul Berg, a Nobel Laureate in biochemistry, at the forum. Bone marrow is used to replace blood cells, red cells or T-cells, for example. "However, no stem cells have ever been isolated in other tissues," he said.
About 70 cell "lines" existed in the United States when President Bush issued an executive order banning federal research funds for growing new lines. Dr. Berg said currently only 20 lines that meet federal funding criteria are available for research. The rest did not prove viable or were subject to licensing restrictions. Any new lines must be created with private funding.
What excites scientists and physicians about embryonic stem cells is their ability to differentiate themselves into many kinds of human tissue. "In experiments with mice, stem cells have generated insulin, which is a potential benefit in juvenile diabetes," Dr. Berg said. Stem cells also have produced dopamine, which reduces the effects of Parkinson's disease. The cells have repaired spinal cord damage in mice.
While the federal government has banned all funding for research that destroys human embryos, the government funds research that uses embryonic stem cell lines, stated Henry T. (Hank) Greely, C. Wendell and Edith M. Carlsmith Professor of Law, Stanford University School of Law.
People who believe life begins at conception consider embryonic stem cell research to be murder. Others oppose "non-reproductive cloning," a method of generating new stem cell lines by replacing genetic material from a human egg with genetic material from another embryo or person.
Nine states ban cloning. All oppose reproductive cloning - the process that created Dolly, the sheep, in Great Britain. Five states also ban non-reproductive cloning. California, the first to ban reproductive cloning, also was the first to permit non-reproductive cloning.
"California is one of two states, along with New Jersey, that encourages stem cell research," Greely noted.
Californians are questioning whether a state in fiscal trouble should fund the research and whether a proposition is the approach for deciding the issue.
Even if stem cell research receives funding, Greely and Dr. Berg cautioned, any treatments are likely to be five to ten years away.

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