“Latest Stem Cells News”

The South Korean bioethics committee has lifted a ban on human stem cell research. The decision will now allow for work on human embryonic stem cells to resume after being interrupted three years ago following the scandal involving Hwang Woo-suk, the false “pioneer of human cloning”. The veterinarian, a national hero at the time, fell from grace after the international scientific community and the University of Seoul uncovered that results from his research on embryonic stem cells were falsified in the laboratory to give the impression that his group was successful in cloning healthy cells from cells affected by incurable diseases.

The lifting of the research ban, explained the bioethics committee, involves a hospital in Seoul (Cha General Hospital), which will resume research under four conditions: written approval from women donating eggs (only those from aborted fetuses will be used); the use of laboratory animals to reduce the use of these eggs to a minimum; instituting a surveillance committee to avoid abuses; the names of the studies must not refer to words or meanings that could “feed false hopes”, including mentioning “cure for Parkinson’s”. The decision to lift the ban must receive authorization from the Health Ministry, and in all likelihood, it will not be rejected.

South Korea seems to be following the policy decisions regarding bioethics of the American administration. Among the steps taken by US President Barack Obama, is also the decision to resume financing for human stem cell research with an initial allocation of one billion dollars. “The decision will restart research,” said Chung Hyung-Min, who pointed out that such studies “have been performed by English scientists and other countries” but until now “there have not scored any successes”.

Embryonic stem cell research has sparked a heated worldwide debate involving ethics, science, and the right to life. The position of the Catholic Church has always been that it considers embryos as human lives. In May of 2008, bishops confirmed strongly condemned the revisions of the law on bioethics approved by Parliament, which allow for those who accept to participate in cloning experiments to be eligible for “reimbursements of their expenses”.

The University of Minnesota is proceeding with embryonic stem cell research, despite an anti-abortion group’s claim that it is illegal under a new ban on the use of state tax dollars for human cloning.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life called on the university Tuesday to “cease its pursuit of human cloning and to end its violation of state law through its ongoing destruction of human embryos.” The organization cited the new cloning ban, along with legislative testimony from a U executive that the ban would stifle “ongoing” research if passed.

University spokeswoman Mary Koppel said the executive’s comments referred to earlier versions of the bill that were broader in scope. The ban doesn’t apply, she added, because the university is not using state tax dollars for any cloning or creation of new embryonic stem cell lines. Koppel said the university already has an internal policy against the use of state tax funds for such purposes.

“This just sort of codifies what we already have in place,” she said.

The ban was a key issue in the final days of budget negotiations between Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Legislature. Pawlenty was prepared to fight a higher education budget bill unless it included the ban, which state Senate and House leaders agreed to add in final conference sessions.

The term cloning evokes images of creating a whole new person. And while the funding ban certainly covers this form of “reproductive cloning,” it also applies to “therapeutic” cloning, the process of copying human cells by transferring a person’s DNA into an unfertilized human egg.

The university is conducting research with stem cell lines that were created years ago — research that is eligible for taxpayer funding. Diabetes researcher Meri Firpo is also using private funds to create new stem cell lines out of embryos that are left over from fertility procedures. However, she said this process doesn’t involve cloning, nor does university policy even allow this type of cloning.

She said it was nonetheless “worrisome” to see a political body dictate what type of research can take place.

Abortion opponents are also against the creation of new stem cell lines from human embryos, because potential human lives are destroyed in the process.

U researchers counter that embryonic cells may unlock treatments for diabetes and cancer.

The university’s Stem Cell Institute is engaged in a variety of stem cell research, including treatments that use the cells from a patient’s own body. U researchers have also replicated a Japanese study in which ordinary skin cells were reprogrammed into an embryonic state.

from Twincities

The Missouri Roundtable for Life, a St. Louis area association led by conservative Ed Martin is organizing events to collect signatures for a November 2010 referendum.

The proposal, presented to the Secretary of State office, entitled “Amendment for the protection of taxpayer money”, asks to not use taxpayer money to fund abortion, human cloning, and other controversial research.
The group’s website, states that they are concerned with limiting or eliminating the effects of Amendment 2 passed in 2006 by a light majority, a law that protects research permitted by federal laws.