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ASRM BULLETIN
Volume 4, Number 40
September 26,
2002
Stem Cells: News From State, Federal And Foreign Governments
California Governor Signs Bill Promoting Stem Cell Research
Sunday, California’s Governor Gray Davis signed into law legislation
that puts California on the record as supporting responsible stem cell
research including research on cells derived from cloned, or somatic cell
nuclear transfer-created, embryos. The legislation, sponsored by
state Senator Deborah Ortiz puts into place a process for review of
proposed research using embryonic stem cells and will facilitate state
funding of research grants to scientists working within the University of
California system. The new law makes a formal requirement of certain
practices that are generally followed. Researchers working in
private companies will have to have their stem cell protocols approved by
scientific and ethical review boards, just as federally-funded researchers
are required to do. And doctors in fertility clinics will have to
discuss with their IVF patients all the options they must consider if
their cases results in extra embryos: cryopreservation for future
pregnancy attempts, donation to another infertile couple, donation for
research, and disposal. The law forbids buying or selling embryos or
fetal tissue, but allows payment of expenses for processing and
transporting cells.
On Monday, Governor Davis signed a bill
permanently extending California’s ban on the use of cloning to produce a
child. Prior to this bill’s enactment, California’s ban on
reproductive cloning was due to expire January 1.
For LA Times
coverage, see www.latimes.com/local/la-me-cell24sep24.story.
Australian House Votes To Allow Research On IVF-Derived Embryos
Australia’s 150-seat House of Representatives voted 99 to 33 in a
conscience vote to allow research to go ahead on stem cells obtained from
spare IVF-created embryos, but to ban the cloning of human embryos for
research as well as for reproductive purposes. The Senate is
expected to continue debate for a few months before voting on the
measure.
The Australian legislation attempts to propose a middle
ground between the restrictive US approach, in which federal funding is
available to study only embryonic stem cells derived prior to the
President’s speech of August 9, 2001, and the more liberal system in the
United Kingdom which allows embryos to be created for research
purposes.
Hearing In Washington Points Out Inadequacy Of President’s Policy
On Wednesday, Senators Specter(R-PA), Hutchison (R-TX), and
Murray (D-WA) convened a hearing in the Appropriations Subcommittee on
Labor, Health , and Human Services on the progress of embryonic stem cell
research. NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, MD, informed the subcommittee
that NIH has been working with laboratories holding approved cell lines
derived prior to August 9, 2001 to negotiate material transfer agreements
and to solve logistical problems with making the lines available to other
researchers. In addition, NIH has awarded 4.2 million dollars in
grants to begin research on the lines.
According to other
scientists, however, the picture is not so rosy. The
administration’s policy of limiting federal funding to the 74 or so cell
lines derived pre-8/9/01 from donated, spare, IVF-generated embryos is
stifling progress and initiative in the field. Curt Civin, MD, an
oncologist at Johns Hopkins, described the difficulties of obtaining
approved cells- great persistence is required “to jump through a
series of hoops and endure lengthy waits.” He has not yet received
his first stem cell line.
Embryonic stem cells, taken from the
inner cell mass of 5-day old blastocysts, are the building blocks of
regenerative medicine. The undifferentiated cells have the potential
to be coaxed to develop into any of the specific cells that make up the
body and hold the promise of curing many diseases by allowing the creation
of replacement tissues for patients needing them. While clinical
applications may still be many years away, products of research using any
of the federally approved lines are extremely unlikely to be used for
cures because the vast majority (if not all) of those cell lines were
cultured with and are contaminated with mouse feeder cells. Senator
Specter, who supports legislation to expand federal support of the field,
is worried that failure to broaden the eligibility guidelines for
federally funded research will result in the US forfeiting its lead.
Roger Pedersen, PhD, formerly of the University of California, San
Francisco, now of Cambridge University (UK) couldn’t reassure Senator
Specter that others wouldn’t follow him to England, remarking, “We’re
working as diligently as possible to recruit them.”
See Washington
Post coverage at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2859-2002Sep25.html.
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