ENDEAVOUR FORUM NEWSLETTER No. 119, SEPTEMBER 2005

 

 

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MIRACLE CURES ARE ON THE NOSE

BABETTE FRANCIS

THE saddest aspect of the debate over embryo-destructive stem cell research is the false hope given to sick people that a cure for their diseases is imminent.

As reported this week, Bruno Grollo is apparently to be rejuvenated, made “forever young”, following treatment with stem cells from fertilised eggs of “genetically perfect Chinese donors”.

What is a “genetically perfect” Chinese woman? And are the sperm used for fertilisation obtained from “genetically perfect” Chinese men?

Has Dr Xuetao Pei published any research papers in peer-reviewed journals? And why is he keeping treatment details secret?

If he really had the elixir of youth, Chinese Government leaders, many of whom are ageing, would be the first to use his treatment and publicise it as a major medical initiative to make China far wealthier than the US.

Michael Shelanski, co-director of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease, Columbia University Medical Centre, New York, said: “I think the chance of doing repairs to Alzheimer’s brains by putting in stem cells is small. We’re going to get other therapies for Alzheimer’s a lot sooner.”

The editorial in the June 4 edition of Lancet described claims that embryonic stem cells would lead to cures for an almost unending number of diseases as “sensationalist” and “hype”.

Lancet also published a commentary from Neil Scolding, neurology researcher, Bristol University, highlighting major problems: “The propensity of embryonic stem cells to form tumours, their exhibition of chromosomal abnormalities, and abnormalities in cloned mammals all present difficulties”.

Scolding points to successful treatments using bone marrow- derived stem cells as well as recent achievements using adult stem cells to treat patients with corneal disease.

Every week there are reports of successful treatments with stem cells derived from muscle, fat, umbilical cords, placentas and amniotic fluid.

Laura Dominguez and Susan Fajt never thought they would walk again after car accidents left them paralysed with severe spinal injuries. But once they received treatments with their own adult stem cells, they were able to walk with the aid of braces.

This underlines research by Griffith University’s Alan Mackay- Sim, who published the results of a project on growing adult stem cells harvested from the nose.

The cells appear able to deliver everything that embryonic stem cells promise, but without the medical and ethical problems.

Prof Mackay-Sim said the easily extracted and grown olfactory stem cells were capable of being turned into heart cells, brain cells, nerve cells, muscle and liver cells—almost any body cell - - without rejection or tumours that can happen in one in five cases with embryonic stem cells.

The stem cells proved astonishingly easy to grow in the laboratory, with millions forming within weeks.

Health Minister Tony Abbott, who launched the publication of the team’s paper, said: “It’s a science-send, not a godsend, but if adult stem cell research is a prospect, all those moral dilemmas we were wrestling with a few years ago, and will have to wrestle with when the legislation comes up for review, we may be delivered from.”

EMBRYONIC stem cells have not resulted in any clinical trials anywhere: all they have produced is mice with tumours and a lot of public relations noise.

While non-embryonic stem cell research may “get up the noses” of embryo experimenters, such cells help the lame to walk and the blind to see.

One is more likely to get help from the tooth fairy than from embryonic cells, because stem cells have even been found in baby teeth.

Yet hype cruelly raises the hopes of the disabled that they will walk if only we’re prepared to slice up embryos.

 

 

 

 

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