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Opponents Of Stem Cell Research Ready For Battle

Posted on: Monday, 24 November 2008, 08:20 CST

Opponents of embryonic stem cell research will face a tough battle when President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January. 

The President-elect plans to lift restrictions on federal money used for embryonic stem cell research.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Cal, also plans to move forward with legislation creating a regulatory framework for the research.

"We may lose it, but we're going to continually fight it and offer the ethical alternative," said Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa. "I don't know what the votes will be in the new Congress ... but it's very possible we could lose this thing."

Embryonic stem cells are the building blocks of tissue.  The cells allow scientists to potentially direct regenerative therapy; meaning they could reproduce tissues for organs like livers, or hearts.

The practice of harvesting stem cells from four day old embryos kills the embryo.  The death of the embryo is what outrages opponents of the research.  Supporters say thousands of embryos from fertility clinics are eventually destroyed if they are not used, and donating them for research will help others.

"I believe that it is ethical to use these extra embryos for research that could save lives when they are freely donated for that express purpose," Obama says.

Under President George W. Bush, federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research was limited to stem cell lines created from a family of constantly dividing cells created before Aug. 9, 2001.  Federal regulations currently do not restrict embryonic stem cell research using state or private dollars.

Obama insisted that he would overturn Bush’s policies on the research.

"As president, I will lift the current administration's ban on federal funding of research on embryonic stem cell lines created after August 9, 2001, through executive order, and I will ensure that all research on stem cells is conducted ethically and with rigorous oversight," Obama said.

Opponents of the research are prepared to fight their battle on many fronts.

Their main argument is that a human is created at conception, even if that conception occurs in a laboratory.

Secondly, opponents want to shed light on the areas of science where the same breakthroughs are being made without the use of embryonic stem cells.  Just this week, a woman was given a new windpipe created from tissue grown with her own stem cells.

"We still intend to try and talk about the real facts that it's the adult stem cells providing the actual treatments," said David Prentice, member of the Family Research Council.

"There's a lot that's happened over the seven years that includes some remarkable scientific discoveries, which really should have made the issue of federal funding of embryonic stem cell research moot," added Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America.

According to Dr. Chi Dang, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, it is not yet clear whether adult stem cells have enough flexibility to be used the way embryonic stem cells could potentially be used, despite the success of adult stem cells.

"From a scientific viewpoint, we would be cornering ourselves into generalizing things that may not be true," Dang said.

"The question is: Is it ethically more acceptable to destroy these embryos by pouring acid on them, or do you deploy these clusters of cells to create new cell lines that could benefit us in the future?" Dang added.

According to Samuel Pfaff, professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, it is important that scientists have the opportunity to study embryonic stem cells to understand what makes them so special in order to endow other cells with similar attributes.

"I think it's very fair to say that the long-term trajectory for this area of science is to understand embryonic stem cells so well that we don't have to use them anymore." Pfaff said.

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Image Caption: Human embryonic stem cell colony.

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On the Net:

• Family Research Council
• Concerned Women for America
• Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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