A Plea For Stem Cell Research
The leader of an organization representing more than 4,000 international fertility experts on Monday urged the European Union not to ban research on embryonic stem cells.
A ban would severely impede progress in understanding the causes of human infertility and damage prospects of new treatments for such diseases as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and diabetes, said Dr. Arne Sunde, incoming chairman of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.
The stem cell controversy has become caught up in proposals by European Union commissioners for an EU-wide directive on quality and safety standards for tissue donation, testing and distribution.
In April, the European Parliament's environment and public health committee amended the proposed directive to include a ban on research designed to create human embryos solely for research purposes or to provide stem cells, including stem cells produced by cloning.
On June 2, the Employment, Social Policy and Health Council decided against a ban and agreed that individual countries will be free to maintain, or introduce, their own more stringent measures if they wish.
"However, we anticipate that there will be an attempt at the second reading at the European Parliament to reinstate the ban," said Sunde, speaking at the annual conference of the fertility society in Madrid.
Regulations on cloning and stem cell research vary across Europe, and around the world. The most liberal rules apply in Britain, where scientists can apply for a license to create human embryos by cloning in order to extract stem cells.
Stem cells, which appear in an embryo after a few days, are the master cells which go on to become every cell type that makes up the body. Scientists believe that they will one day be able to direct stem cells to grow into whatever type of tissue they need for transplant.
Stem cells can be found in adults, but scientists believe they may not be as versatile as those found in embryos.
Extracting the cells from embryos created by cloning using a cell from a patient would in theory ensure the cell transplant is a perfect match, bypassing the problem of the immune system's rejection of transplants.
Research into adult stem cells is progressing, and opponents of embryo research argue that adult stem cells can provide everything needed.
"In the future, these types of cells and others isolated from adult tissues may become an important, possibly even the main source for research and treatment, but there is likely always to be a need to use embryo-isolated stems for specific projects," said Sunde, a cell biologist and director of the IVF unit at the University Hospital of Trondheim in Norway.
"It's not an either-or situation. Most scientists working with stem cells, whether embryonic or adult, agree that in order to find clinically viable treatments research must continue on both types," Sunde said.
By Emma Ross