Stem cell research in Canada

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) were told by an internal ad hoc committee last week that Canadian scientists should have access to public funds to enable them to carry out research on human stem cells, including their derivation from embryos and fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions.

The lack of funding in Canada prompted the CIHR, the main biomedical research body in the country, to set up the ad hoc working group on stem cell research to look into the issue, comprising of ten scientists, ethicists and policy makers. The committee is being chaired by Janet Rossant, a developmental geneticist from Toronto University.

The committee's recommendations include that the CIHR should fund research into stem cells derived from fetal tissue and embryos left over from fertility treatment programs, but not from embryos created specifically for the purpose of deriving stem cell lines. A moratorium on funding for work involving the mixing of human stem cells with animal embryos is also proposed.

Along with scientists, the public is being asked to comment on the panel's draft report. The final recommendations of the committee are expected in June. Any move towards the funding of stem cell research by the CIHR could influence the ongoing debate in the United States, where it is feared that President Bush will overturn last year's decision to allow funding for such work.

Meanwhile, in the UK, a House of Lords Select Committee has been established to consider and report on issues in stem cell research and human cloning arising from the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Research Purposes) Regulations 2001. The Select Committee has issued a public call for evidence which, once collected, will form the basis of a report to the House of Lords to which the Government will respond.