Scientists at the Institute for Frontier for Medical Sciences at Kyoto University in Japan have produced the country's first human embryo stem cells (ES cells). Project leader Norio Nakatsuji says that his team has produced enough cells to meet current research needs in Japan, and are now awaiting government approval before distributing the stem cells to ten other Japanese groups.
Scientists working on ES cells - the body's master cells, capable of growing into any type of tissue - are hoping to develop new treatments for a range of diseases. In Japan, researchers are permitted to obtain stem cells from embryos left over from fertility treatments. The Kyoto team, after obtaining permission in April 2002 to carry out such research, has managed to grow three embryo stem cell lines in the laboratory. All were grown using mouse 'feeder' cells, which means they will not be suitable for use in any human clinical trials. It seems that researchers abroad will not benefit from the new cell lines: 'At this point, sending stem cells overseas is probably not possible'.
Meanwhile, in the US, the president's Council on Bioethics has released its first report on stem cell research. Entitled 'Monitoring Stem Cell Research', the 400-page document summarises recent scientific developments, outlines the ethical issues surrounding stem cells, and provides an overview of current government policy in this area. On 9 August 2001, President Bush announced that federally-funded scientists in the US could only work on ES cell lines already in existence before that date. But rather than the estimated 70 embryo cell-lines that were thought to be around at that time, Elias Zerhouni, director of the NIH (National Institutes of Health), later said that only 11 of them were available for use by US researchers.
However, the new report does not make any recommendations regarding stem cell research because, said Council Chair Leon Kass, the president's policy was still young. 'It's premature to jump in and second guess current arrangements before we give them time to work' he said. The council is divided over the issue of research into 'therapeutic cloning' (the use of cloned embryo stem cells to develop new disease treatments): in a 2002 report on cloning, ten members voted for a ban on reproductive cloning and a four-year moratorium on therapeutic cloning, while seven members voted in favour of allowing therapeutic cloning research. Council member Robert George, of Princeton University, told the Scientist magazine that for now, making recommendations was difficult given the 'unbridgeable divisions within the council'.
Sources and References
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No decision on stem cells
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Japanese institute produces human embryo stem cells
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Japanese university produces country's first embryonic stem cells
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