Va. Lab Uses Embryos Made Only for Research (washingtonpost.com)

July 11, 2001

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43957-2001Jul10.html

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By Rick Weiss

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, July 11, 2001; Page A01

Scientists in Virginia have become the first in the world to harvest embryonic stem cells from human embryos that were created specifically for research and then destroyed to retrieve the potentially valuable cells.

Until now, researchers had derived stem cells only from donated embryos that had already been created in fertility clinics but were designated for disposal because they were not needed. The creation of new embryos for the sole purpose of destroying them for their stem cells runs directly counter to recent recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, the National Institutes of Health and the ethics advisory board of the European Commission.

The work drew immediate criticism from religious conservatives opposed to embryo research and from others who have been working to find middle ground in the heated political battle over embryonic stem cells. The cells show great promise for their ability to regenerate damaged tissues but are controversial because embryos must be destroyed to get them.

But the scientists who conducted the work at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk said that they and several review panels had carefully assessed the ethical implications in advance and concluded that the approach was at least as ethical as using spare frozen embryos. There are ethical advantages to having parents know and agree from the start that their embryos would be used for research, they said.

President Bush has said he will soon decide whether to allow taxpayer dollars to be used for research on embryonic stem cells. He is under intense pressure, both from patient groups that favor the research and opponents who feel the work is inherently unethical. Meanwhile, Bush has delayed implementation of new National Institutes of Health guidelines, developed under President Bill Clinton, that would allow federally funded scientists to conduct research on stem cells, but only if the cells came from spare frozen embryos.

Some commentators said yesterday that the maverick move by the Institute scientists was just the latest evidence that embryo research should be disallowed. "I think this is a cautionary tale against starting down the slope," said Doerflinger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Others, however, said the news strengthened the case for quickly initiating federal funding, with its accompanying guidelines and oversight.

"This research demonstrates the urgent need for federal oversight of stem cell research, but federal oversight will only come hand-in-hand with federal funding," said Lawrence Soler, chairman of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research. "Federal funding for the creation of an embryo solely for research purposes would not be allowed if the current NIH guidelines were in effect."

Lanzendorf, Hodgen and their colleagues at the Institute, part of the Eastern Virginia Medical School, consulted with clergy, ethicists, law scholars and others on the issue of creating embryos as an expendable source of stem cells. The institute's ethics committee concluded that "the creation of embryos for research purposes was justifiable and that it was our duty to provide humankind with the best understanding of early human development," the team reports in the July issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility, released today. A university ethics panel agreed.

The group extracted eggs from 12 women, who signed detailed informed consent documents and were paid $1,500 to $2,000 each, said Gibbons, a reproductive endocrinologist there who was not involved in the work but was the only person the institute would make available to reporters. Of the 162 eggs collected and inseminated by donor sperm, 50 embryos were successfully created. The researchers destroyed 40 of those to get the stem cells that resided inside, from which three lines, or colonies, of stem cells were isolated and maintained in culture. The work was done with private funds.

A 1994 panel of government advisers recommended allowing the creation of embryos for research under certain circumstances. President Clinton rejected that recommendation the day he got it, and there's been little open support for the practice since then. Even the members of that panel were divided. The creation of embryos for research "is unnerving," wrote town University professor and panelist King, "because human life is being created solely for human use."

King's sentiment was echoed in a recent report from a Clinton-appointed national bioethics commission. "There is a more than ample supply of embryos already created and destined to be destroyed," said Murray, a commission member and president of the Hastings Center, a bioethics think tank in Garrison, N.Y. "So long as there is such a supply available, there was no good reeason to create an embryo soley for research."

Yet some ethicists support the Institute's view. "Soliciting eggs and sperm from donors who do not know each other and have no reproductive intent can ensure that there is no regret about using the embryo for research," said R. Alta Charo, a professor of law and ethics at the University of Wisconsin. "So if one focuses on the adults' interests, rather than on the moral status of the embryo, then making embryos solely for research is not as odd as it may sound."

Among nations, only Britain has set up a legal mechanism that allows the creation of new embryos for research, with strict rules governing the kinds of experiments that are eligible. To date, none have been used to create stem cells.

Separately, supporters of embryonic stem research said yesterday they would "turn up the heat" on the Bush administration by immediately launching a major television and print advertising campaign featuring an 11-year-old girl with diabetes. The theme of the campaign, sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, will be: "With stem cell research, a cure is within reach."

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Va. Lab Uses Embryos Made Only for Research (washingtonpost.com)

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