Stem cell research

Research on human stem cells may help alleviate or even cure many devastating medical conditions including Parkinson's disease, juvenile diabetes, and spinal cord injury. While there is no guarantee of such results, there is a wide consensus among experts in this field that increased research on stem cells from a variety of sources could have enormous health benefits.

The most useful source of human stem cells is likely to be embryos 5 to 6 days after fertilization of a human egg. The embryo, which is at this very early stage called a "blastocyst," is merely a sphere of 100-200 cells with a mass inside the sphere consisting of 30 or so cells from which the stem cells are obtained. Although some religious leaders assert that a human life exists, complete with a soul, as soon as an egg is fertilized by a sperm cell, this is simply a theological assertion that has no scientific basis.

The spherical embryo from which stem cells are derived has no structure resembling a human being, no tissues, and no nerve or other specialized cells that would enable it to think, feel pain, have consciousness, or in any way be aware of its own existence. Those embryos from which stem cells are taken develop from eggs fertilized and grown in plastic laboratory vessels, not in a human body. The great majority of such embryos that currently exist were created to treat infertility -- they are excess embryos that will, ultimately, be discarded. Thus, they are not human beings.

While there is room for legitimate debate as to when a human embryo or fetus deserves respect as a potential human being, the early embryos or blastocysts from which stem cells are typically derived are nowhere near that point. The discarding of such embryos in large numbers by in vitro fertilization clinics is a generally accepted medical practice. One of the mechanisms of action of intrauterine devices (IUD's), which are a generally accepted means of contraception, is to prevent implantation of such early embryos into the uterus, resulting in destruction of the embryos. The Supreme Court has ruled that a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy cannot be challenged by government in the first trimester, or 3 months after fertilization, while stem cells are obtained from embryos only 5 or 6 days after fertilization.

Federal legislation, the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, currently prevents federal funds from being used to create stem cells from human embryos since the embryos are destroyed in the process. In addition, President George W. Bush announced a decision on August 9, 2001 which prevents federal funds from being used for research on stem cell lines that have been obtained from embryos after that date. We strongly oppose both the Dickey-Wicker Amendment and President Bush's policy because they unnecessarily prevent important biomedical research from taking place. In July, 2006 the Congress passed a bill, which we strongly supported, that would have overturned the president's policy on stem cell research, but this bill was vetoed by the president. While privately funded and state level research continues, the National Institute of Health using federally funded research has consistently been the primary source of medical advances. Regardless of smaller research attempts, our federal government must lift its limitation of this important research.

The early embryos from which stem cells are obtained can be produced in several ways. There may be crucial medical advantages in having stem cells obtained from these different types of embryos available for research. For example, one anticipated problem with the therapeutic use of stem cells is that they may be rejected by the body of a patient into which they are implanted. Therefore, it may be medically essential to have available stem cells from embryos whose genetic makeup is compatible with that of the patient. In order to obtain such embryos, it may be necessary to use egg and sperm cells from selected donors rather than those who happen to be seeking treatment for infertility, in which case the embryo would be created specifically for research purposes. Alternatively, replacing the nucleus of an egg with the nucleus from a cell of a patient, and then permitting the egg with the patient's nuclear genetic material to grow into an embryo, could result in stem cells that are not rejected because they have the same genetic composition as the patient's cells. Research should be permitted to proceed with appropriate ethical safeguards on embryonic stem cells obtained from these two sources: (1) early embryos created for research purposes and (2) early embryos obtained by nuclear transfer (cloning).

Stem cells can also be obtained from mature tissues of adults, children, or babies (so-called "adult" stem cells), from placenta, and from aborted fetuses. Research on stem cells from these sources should be pursued. However, expanded research on embryonic stem cells is essential since they may be the most medically useful.

When an embryo is going to be used to generate stem cells for biomedical research, appropriate informed consent from the egg and sperm donors is needed, including acknowledgment and acceptance of any privacy issues that might arise. If the egg donation is not part of a medical treatment for the benefit of the donor, such as treatment of infertility, strict, fully enforced safeguards are needed to ensure that the donor is not coerced or pressured economically or otherwise, that she is offered no financial or other personal incentive to donate, and that any health risks associated with the harvesting of the eggs is minimized. Safeguards must also be in place to prevent embryos created for research purposes or by nuclear transfer (cloning) from being grown further than necessary for obtaining stem cells, so that no legitimate concerns about destroying potential human life will arise.

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