Canada permits using leftover blastocysts for research

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Saw this in the AP news, this morning:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020305/ap_on_re_ca/canada_st\

em_cell_research_8

Canada Bans Human Embryo Cloning

Tue Mar 5, 4:36 AM ET

OTTAWA - Canada issued new guidelines for

stem-cell research Monday, banning human embryo cloning but permitting

government-funded scientists to use embryos left over from fertility

treatment or abortions.

The guidelines provide Canadian researchers

with more sources of human embryos than are available to their

counterparts in the United States, which only allows federally-funded

scientists to work with existing cell lines, not new embryos.

Set by the Canadian Institutes of Health

Research, the guidelines for Canadian scientists who receive government

research money also call for creation of a new scientific agency to

oversee compliance.

" I think it would be fair to say that at least

much of that which you find in the guidelines will in some fashion be

reflected in legislation ultimately passed by this government, " Health

Minister Anne McLellan said.

Canada's guidelines ban cloning embryos

specifically for research, which is allowed in Great Britain.

Legislation passed by the U.S. House and under consideration by the

Senate would ban such cloning in the United States.

In August, President Bush (news - web sites)

severely restricted the use of federal funds in embryonic stem cell

research to the 64 known cell lines in existence. Extracting stem cells

destroys embryos.

Embryonic stem cells can develop into almost

every type of tissue in the human body. They are believed to hold great

potential for treating diseases and generating replacement organs.

Because harvesting stem cells involves

destroying an embryo, the research has prompted an ethical debate linked

to cloning and abortion.

Anti-abortion forces oppose any use of embryonic

stem-cell research, saying it goes against the concept that life begins

at conception. They call for working with adult stem cells, but some

researchers say the embryonic stem cells offer more potential.

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Note that the writer has made some mistakes.

* The blastocyst is not an embryo as it still needs a womb to become a

human. So saying " Extracting stem cells destroys embryos " is a bit of a

stretch. In actuality only the totipotent cells (placenta) are

destroyed (about 40 cells - an adult human brain alone has about 400,000

cells) and about 100 are kept alive to use to try to find a cure for PD,

MSA or other brain disorders.

* Not mentioned is that all of the cells will be destroyed after the

blastocyst reaches about three years in storage. Thousands are flushed

down the toilet every day. No one has suggested a funeral for the

blastocysts - which is strange to me, if you consider it a human.

* It does mention that Anti-abortion forces claim that we can use adult

stem cells for this purpose. Then it distorts the research by saying

" some researchers say the embryonic stem cells offer more potential. "

In fact MOST researchers say that brain cells can only be grown from

pluripotent stem cells. Fact is also that researchers (in three

different studies) have cured mice of PD like symptoms using pluripotent

stem cells. Yet adult stem cells have NEVER been grown into a dopamine

producing neuron. Adult stem cells have been used to cure some cancers

and other diseases. But pluripotent stem cells are the only ones that

have shown promise in curing PD, ALS, juvenile diabetes and severed

nerves.

Take care, Bill Werre