Fed: Right to Life criticises use of embryonic stem cells

AAP General News (Australia)
04-04-2000
Fed: Right to Life criticises use of embryonic stem cells

By Jo Dougherty

MELBOURNE, April 4 AAP - A major breakthrough in the growth of human nerve cells from
embryonic stem cells was letting another genie out of the bottle, Right to Life campaigners
said today.

Right to Life Australia chairwoman Margaret Tighe said the discovery by a Monash University
team was an example of scant regard for human life shown by medical scientists.

The Melbourne-based team is the first in the world to grow the cells, paving the way
for treatment of degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

"It does sound harmless and the intention is very praise-worthy but sadly it's really
letting another genie out of the bottle," Mrs Tighe told AAP.

"Once you say this form of cloning can be done for these very worthy purposes, the
fact is that they've got the technology then to apply it even further and to remove undesirable
traits from people.

"That might sound fanciful but it won't be - one day that will be put into practice."

Mrs Tighe said Professor Alan Trounson and his team at the Monash Institute of Reproduction
and Development had also jumped the gun in light of the current federal parliamentary
inquiry into the use of cloned embryonic stem cells.

The inquiry, chaired by Victorian Member for Menzies, Kevin Andrews, is considering
national guidelines on the use of what is known as therapeutic cloning.

It is illegal in Victoria, South Australian and Western Australia to experiment on
living embryos, therefore the embryos used in the Monash research have been donated by
patients on IVF programs in Singapore - who don't need them.

Scientists at the National University of Singapore then turned the embryos into cell
lines which were transported to the Monash Institute for cell work.

"We have to look at ways and means of dealing with certain diseases ... but not with
means that involve using other human beings," Mrs Tighe said.

"We know that human embryos are human beings, they're just very small."

However, Prof Trounson said he wanted the laws to reflect the potential to make the
best of this medicine.

He said it was intellectually and practically ridiculous not to be allowed to do any
research on embryos.

"I don't see any benefit in that if the patients are willing to give their embryos
for this kind of work," he said.

Prof Trounson said his team viewed the embryos of 100 cells as just that - embryos of 100 cells.

"They're not people and they're not persons and they're not individuals. We don't consider
them that way," he said.

AAP jd/jlw/bdm/br

KEYWORD: NERVE LIFE

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