Stem cell battles go on

Scientists, the profitable biotech industry and Congress will continue fighting over the funding and use of embryonic stem cells. But it’s informed voters and news consumers who will continue to tilt the balance on who wields ultimate power.

So get familiar with the facts. Here’s a good overview of where things stand.

The medical, moral and political debate over the need for embryonic stem-cell research remains fierce, with multiple medical reports in the past 18 months describing ways to produce disease-treating stem cells without destroying human embryos.

Stem cells are the body’s master cells, the basic building blocks from which a person’s tissue and organs develop. Scientists say the cells hold promise for treating — and perhaps curing — diseases such as Parkinson’s, diabetes and cancer. 

Proponents of embryonic stem-cell research think these types of cells hold the greatest potential for medical breakthroughs because they have the ability to grow into any type of cell in the body if scientists learn how to direct their development. 

But critics of embryonic stem-cell research, including President Bush, say destroying or tampering with a human embryo is immoral. 

“We recoil at the idea of growing human beings for spare body parts or creating life for our own convenience,” Mr. Bush has said.

And then there’s the total failure of embryonic stem cells to produce results researchers want.

“The rhetoric for embryonic stem-cell research is more shrill today than ever, but this research is not panning out,” said David Prentice, a senior fellow for life sciences at the Family Research Council, which opposes embryonic stem-cell research. 

The development of tumors has been “an ongoing problem” in animal research using embryonic stem cells, according to the White House report and other researchers. 

Neurologists at the University of Rochester and Cornell reported in November that brain cells derived from embryonic stem cells dramatically improved the condition of rats with severe Parkinson’s-like symptoms. But they said the treatment also caused a significant problem — the appearance of brain tumors in the rodents. 

“In fact, 100 percent of the rats got tumors,” said Mr. Prentice, who is familiar with the research. He added that there have been “at least a dozen” cases of animal studies using embryonic stem cells in which 25 percent to 50 percent of the animals developed tumors. 

The White House report does support clinical trials using adult stem cells, which it says “have produced encouraging improvements in patients with a range of disorders and diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma, diabetes, advanced kidney cancer and several genetic blood disorders.”

Are you hearing this kind of information in the mainstream media? Ask them why not.