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Key issues unconnected to embryos are still missing from the stem cell debate

Oakland, CA - Newly announced techniques for embryonic stem cell research reported in the latest issue of Nature are focused solely on concerns about destroying embryos, and fail to address other important social and safety issues, according to the Center for Genetics and Society, a public interest advocacy group.

"The new stem cell research techniques may help diffuse the concern about destroying embryos," said Marcy Darnovsky, associate executive director at the Center. "But they do nothing to tackle other troubling questions raised by work on stem cells and research cloning."

In one of two techniques reported in Nature, scientists were able to establish a mouse stem cell line by extracting a single cell from an early embryo, without noticeably harming it. In the other, known as "altered nuclear transfer," researchers report genetically modifying embryos produced by research cloning (also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer) to make them unviable.

"We need effective oversight to make sure that cloned embryos aren't misused in efforts to produce cloned or genetically modified children," Darnovsky said. "Straightforward regulatory mechanisms could accomplish this, but so far they haven't been put in place. And we still don't have laws against reproductive cloning either nationally or in the majority of U.S. states."

Darnovsky continued, "Producing cloned embryos that are altered doesn't reduce the number of human eggs the work will require. Which women will undergo the risky and invasive procedures used to extract these eggs? How will these women be protected from the serious adverse reactions that sometimes occur?"

Commenting on the prospect of "individually tailored" treatments based on stem cells and research cloning, Darnovsky said, "The personal-repair-kit approach to stem cell treatments is almost certain to be extremely expensive. It could wind up making the health disparities we already have much worse. We need to prioritize stem cell research mostly likely to produce treatments that can be made widely available."

Contact:

Marcy Darnovsky
1-510-625-0819 x305

Parita Shah
510-625-0819 x312