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A scientist, who is a member of the South Korean team that cloned human embryos to destroy them for their stem cells, cast cold water on hopes for cures. The scientist, Ahn Curie, a doctor of transplantation medicine at Seoul National University Hospital, said patients should be very patient before expecting miracle cures from the controversial cells. He is not the only scientist to issue such a warning. “To start with, people need a fairy tale”, Ronald D.G. McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told Washington Post science writer Rick Weiss. “There is too much hype about embryonic stems and at this point there is no data that cures are imminent”, said Dr. Micheline Mathews-Roth, a researcher at Harvard.

The tragedy is that despite successes with stem cells derived from ethical sources, and lack of success with embryonic stem cells, in Australia Professor Mackay-Sim  (see article on  Miracle Cures above)  and his researchers  function on a pittance.  Senator Ron Boswell told me that one of the team had to work in a grocery store to make ends meet.  In the meantime Prof. Alan Trounson  - who has no compunction about experimenting with embryos - gets millions plus  the kudos of the UN and the world media.

Prime Minister  Howard has appointed a Committee to review the moratorium on human cloning.  Please make  submissions  opposing cloning and embryonic stem cell research, and write to the Prime Minister asking that all funds be given to ethical stem cell research and not research that involves killing embryos.