Scientists Trying to Clone Embryos for Stem Cells
Researchers at the main pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School said Tuesday they have begun efforts to create stem cells by cloning human embryos.
Researchers affiliated with Harvard University said Tuesday they have begun efforts to create stem cells by cloning human embryos – a controversial venture that is sure to draw fire from pro-life and Christian communities.
According to The Associated Press, the work at Children's Hospital Boston, the main pediatric teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, is aimed at eventually creating stem cells for treating blood diseases like sickle-cell anemia, leukemia and other blood disorders.
“Our long-term goal is to create embryonic stem cells from a patient's tissues, correct the genetic defects, and get the repaired cells back into the patients," said Dr. George Daley of Children's Hospital in Boston, according to Reuters.
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Daley, an executive committee member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, is overseeing the work at the hospital. The blood diseases expert told AP that he had begun experiments but declined to describe the results of his work so far.
Two other researchers, Douglas Melton and Kevin Eggan, have received approval from a series of review boards to begin similar work, the institute reported.
Although stem cells can give rise to more specialized cells and tissues, which in turn may be useful for transplant to treat a range of diseases, embryonic stem cell research is controversial because it involves harvesting stem cells from a fertilized egg that that is in the early stages of development to becoming a fetus. Pro-life groups oppose the research for the same reason that they oppose abortion since they consider conception to be the starting point of life.
Also, pro-life groups note, no cures have been found since 1998 research began on embryonic stem cells.
Cord blood stem cells, on the other hand, are seen by pro-life advocates as an ethical alternative to embryonic stem cell research and have been successfully used to treat thousands for a variety of diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, myelodysplasia, severe aplastic anemia, genetic diseases of the blood and immune system, certain genetic metabolic diseases like adrenoleukodystrophy ("Lorenzo's oil disease"), as well as Krabbe disease and Hurler's disease.
Last year, in December, President Bush signed into law a bill that would allow umbilical cords to be used for stem cell research and avoid the controversy over embryonic stem cells. In 2001, Bush restricted the use of federal money for human embryonic stem cell work to a few existing batches of cells.
The issue has divided Congress, with some lawmakers wanting to give it more funding and others wanting to ban it altogether.
The Harvard project, which Daley said will cost millions of dollars, will be financed exclusively by private donors.
