Embryo stem cell politics

Last week in the UK Parliament, 175 members of the House of Commons voted against a bill, tabled by Evan Harris MP, supporting human embryonic stem cell research. Whilst these MPs do not constitute a majority of the full House of Commons (there are a total of 659 MPs), they did constitute a majority in the chamber that day.

Part of the reason for the result is that this was the first opportunity afforded to UK politicians to consider the merits of embryo stem cell research. Despite countless consultations and enquiries on the issue, two of which have been commissioned by the government, a debate has never taken place in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords. And so, apart from those MPs who have taken an interest in the research, most members will have heard the arguments for and against for the first time last week.

Another problem with short parliamentary debates (this bill was given 10 minutes for discussion) is that wild accusations can often go unchallenged because the bill's sponsor has no opportunity to reply to opponents. As such, the bill's opponent, Edward Leigh MP, was able to peddle a few myths about stem cell research.

One such myth is that creating cloned embryos for stem cell research will inevitably lead to creating cloned babies: all it would require is transfer of the embryo to a woman. This might sound like a tiny step, but it's actually a huge one. It would require a willing woman (of which there are none in the UK), a willing clinical and scientific team (of which there are none in the UK) and a lack of concern about breaking the law. This has never happened in any other area of embryology in the UK, and there's no reason to assume it would here.

Another myth about embryonic stem cell research is that it's not necessary because stem cells in adults are just as good. Adult stem cells are difficult to identify and, because they are already partially specialised, they are less versatile. But even if they were as useful and as easy to isolate as embryonic stem cells, concentrating entirely upon them would be like arguing for just one perfectly ethical line of research to cure cancer, instead of two or more. In short, the stakes are too high to be closing down any avenues of research.

Politicians do need more opportunity for debate on these issues. But what they also need is the truth. And it is up to those who support embryonic stem cell research to provide them with it.