Article from Sunday'sBoston Globe

[Guest guest]

Here's the bulk of the article I referred to yesterday. We all need

to understand how this affects us and our futures.

Although the first human embryonic stem cell line was created in the

United States, a Globe survey has found that the majority of new

embryonic cell lines -- colonies of potent cells with the ability to

create any type of tissue in the human body -- are now being created

overseas, a concrete sign that American science is losing its

preeminence in a key field of 21st-century research.

Nearly three years ago, the Bush administration prohibited the use of

federal money to work with any embryonic cell lines created after

Aug. 9, 2001, because of moral concerns over the destruction of human

embryos. At the time, the president said there would be more than 60

lines of these cells available. But today there are only 19 usable

lines created before that date, and that number is never likely to

rise above 23, according to the National Institutes of Health.

However, the number of cell lines available to the world's

researchers, but off-limits to US government-funded researchers, is

now much higher: at least 51, according to the survey. It could rise

to more than 100 over the coming year. There are three new lines in

Dvorak's lab, with four more in progress. And there are also new

lines in Sweden, Israel, Finland, and South Korea. Last week, the

world's first public bank of embryonic stem cells opened in the

United Kingdom, a country where there are at least five new lines and

more on the way.

''Science is like a stream of water, because it finds its way, " said

Fisher, a professor at the University of California at San

Francisco. ''And now it has found its way outside the United States. "

At a time when reports show the United States is losing its dominance

in other areas of science, Fisher and many other researchers say they

are increasingly worried that America is not building a competitive

foundation in one of the most active areas of biological discovery.

Many scientists believe that embryonic stem-cell research has the

potential to yield profound insights into a range of afflictions,

including Parkinson's disease and diabetes, which affect millions of

Americans. By restricting American use of these cells, they say, the

government is effectively keeping them out of the hands of many top

scientists -- both slowing the pace of research that could lead to

cures, and potentially putting the country behind in technologies

that could be major business opportunities in the new century.

Included on the list of off-limits cell lines created since 2001 are

some cells that are easier to use and would be safer for patients

than the Bush-approved lines. Others are tailored for the study of

particular diseases.

Each cell line is a colony of cells derived from a single embryo,

which share the same DNA. One of the new cell lines has the common

genetic mutation underlying cystic fibrosis. This cell line,

developed overseas and not yet described in a scientific journal,

could reveal the biological underpinnings of a debilitating disease

that affects some 30,000 Americans. The US government will not pay

for scientists to grow or study these cells because they were created

recently.

The ballooning list of forbidden cell lines could add energy to a

rebellion over stem cell policy within the president's own Republican

Party. Thirty-six Republicans were among the 206 members of the House

of Representatives who signed a letter asking the president to

reconsider the ban. And two weeks ago, Reagan delivered an

impassioned plea for research that might one day prevent the horror

of diseases like Alzheimer's, which she said has taken former

president Reagan ''to a distant place where I can no longer

reach him. "

For most diseases, embryonic stem cell research is likely many years

from offering any help to patients. But it is becoming increasingly

apparent that if researchers begin to make medical progress, the US

government -- which funds the vast majority of basic science research

in this country -- will be able to take little credit.

For many foreign scientists, the restrictions imposed on the world's

leading biomedical power represent an opportunity. Dvorak once used

old rum bottles as flasks in his underfunded lab. Now he is talking

to a professor at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Ole Isacson, about

collaborating on research.

''He is swimming, " said Isacson, whose lab at McLean Hospital is

famous for its research on Parkinson's disease. ''But for us, it is

like trying to swim on dry land. "

* * * When human embryonic stem cells were first isolated, the

breakthrough happened in an American lab.

In November 1998, a team of researchers lead by biologist

Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced it had

isolated human embryonic stem cells and could grow them in a dish.

Embryonic stem cells, taken from a microscopic embryo in its first

few days of development, are in a sense the most primordial and

powerful human cells, and can develop into any part of the body.

The announcement created a sensation. It was clear these cells would

be an important new tool for studying human biology, and they also

raised the prospect that a wide range of diseases might be treated

someday by replacing a patient's damaged cells. Yet the work is also

ethically controversial, because growing stem cells requires

destroying a human embryo. This led critics to charge the practice

amounted to taking human lives and could not be justified no matter

how great the potential benefits.

In 2001, President Bush attempted to broker a compromise: In a

nationally televised speech, he said that federally funded research

would be limited to cell lines already in existence. He said that the

more than 60 lines already derived would be enough for researchers to

continue their work without using government money to destroy more

embryos.

Although much basic biological research remains to be done on the

cell lines created before Aug. 9, 2001, it has become clear to

American scientists that the Bush policy has put them at a

disadvantage compared with many of their colleagues overseas. Human

embryonic stem cells are notoriously difficult to handle, and

deriving each new line gives the team in the laboratory a deeper

understanding of stem-cell biology and essential practical skills.

Abroad, this work is exploding, while in the United States only a

handful of labs are able to do it.

''A lot of stem cell biology is like gardening, " said Minger,

who isolated the cystic fibrosis cell line and is an American

scientist who now works at King's College London. ''Some people can

grow orchids, and some can't grow tomatoes. "

Governments around the world are stepping into the gap, and a number

are emerging as powerhouses in the field.

In the United Kingdom, as in the United States, there has been

contentious public debate over embryonic cell research, but the

government has designed a system of strict oversight. With the

opening last week of the new UK Stem Cell Bank north of London,

funded by the government at $4.6 million over three years, that

country is taking the kind of international leadership role which in

other fields has fallen to the United States. The bank will accept

cell lines that meet a set of ethical standards, carefully study and

grow them to ensure they are scientifically useful, and then make

them available to researchers.

''We see this as a truly international effort, " said Glyn Stacey, the

new bank's director.

In Australia, the government is funding research and helping to set

up a national stem cell center. In the Czech Republic, Dvorak's lab

at the Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry is part of a

Centre for Cell Therapy and Tissue Repair, supported by the

government. South Korea has derived almost as many new lines of human

embryonic stem cells as the United States, according to the Globe

survey, and researchers there were the first to create stem cells

from a cloned human embryo -- a scientific milestone that American

researchers grumble should have happened in the United States.

* * * This rush of work overseas is yielding other important

advances, such as technology that could be key in turning the science

of embryonic stem cells into usable therapies. All of the cell lines

on the US government approved list are grown on a layer of mouse

cells. These mouse cells, called a ''feeder layer, " sustain the human

cells, but could also transmit mouse-borne viruses, making them

potentially dangerous for use in humans.

Dvorak's laboratory has just begun working with human feeder cells

instead, a technique that could yield cells safe to transplant back

into humans. Already, laboratories in Singapore, Israel, Sweden, and

Finland have isolated lines of stem cells that don't need mouse

feeder cells. Only one American lab has done so: Fisher's

California lab, which is barred from receiving federal funding and is

supported in part by the California-based biotech Geron Corp.

None of these lines, including Fisher's, can be used by government-

funded scientists in America. The result is that American scientists

with private funding are making advances that they can share freely

with scientists overseas, but which they cannot share with colleagues

in their own departments.

As much as the Bush rules have limited embryonic stem cell research,

they have prompted a substantial private effort to keep the research

moving forward. Harvard announced last month that it is building a

privately funded effort to do the work, and it has a fund-raising

goal of $100 million. The University of California, San Francisco is

already underway with a similar effort, started with a $5 million

gift from Intel's Andy Grove, as are a number of other academic

institutions. Earlier this month, the governor of New Jersey signed

an agreement opening the nation's first state-funded stem cell

institute.

Thanks partly to this effort, none of the researchers contacted by

the Globe said they had seen signs of a scientific ''brain drain "

that some critics predicted. But still they worry about the more

subtle side effects of the Bush policy. Many of the world's top

disease specialists work at universities in the United States, yet

they are largely unable to work on embryonic stem cells, and the

universities are likely to have more trouble recruiting talented

foreign scientists interested in embryonic stem cells.

At the same time, top American researchers who might otherwise jump

into the field are avoiding it because of the risks, scientists said.

And some worry that younger stem cell scientists, who don't have an

established lab to keep them in the United States, will move abroad,

and perhaps stay there.

''That is really something to keep an eye on, " said Gearhart,

one of the field's founders and a professor at s Hopkins

Medicine. Gearhart said that many of the younger scientists in his

lab are interested in pursuing further training abroad.

Yet there could be changes coming. Last weekend, the NIH issued a

letter hinting the White House may be open to changing its policy at

some point. The letter, written by NIH director Dr. Elias A.

Zerhouni, was a response to a letter signed by 206 members of the

House of Representatives. In it, he acknowledges that ''from a purely

scientific perspective more cell lines may well speed some areas of

human embryonic stem cell research. "

US Representative N. Castle, a Deleware Republican who helped

organize the House letter, said that it seems to represent a

softening of the White House stance. In Congress, he said, support

for stem cell research is increasing, and he added that he has been

struck by the degree to which some people change their minds when

they meet with patients who are suffering. ''There doesn't seem to be

a lot of gray area, " Castle said. ''They become real advocates. "

In the meantime, many scientists abroad are nearly giddy with the

possibilities the field now presents them. Dvorak and a colleague,

Ales Hampl, are preparing to come to Boston for a major conference

next month, organized by the International Society for Stem Cell

Researchers. While he is in Boston, Dvorak is going to make a

presentation of his work at Isacson's lab.

Because of federal restrictions in the United States, Isacson said

that he has been increasingly looking abroad for collaborators who

are more free, and Dvorak is one possibility.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for passing that one along. I listened to Andy Rooney Sunday

evening. No jokes or puns as usual just a very sobering look from

his many years at all the bad decisions our nation has been making

and his worry that this wonderful nation will fall as the Greece and

Roman gov't did. I found I totally agreed with him.

We should have a focus on the Better Good of people and our future.

Meanwhile I'll be saving up for a few trips to Europe. lol

Eva in WV

[Guest guest]

Thanks Thurza. If nothing else, this research (whether here or

overseas) gives us reason to hang on. I, for one, can't understand

why saving a few cells is more important than saving a human being.

Let's hope that the letters and petitions we've signed will help

bring the administration to its senses.

Edith

> Here's the bulk of the article I referred to yesterday. We all need

> to understand how this affects us and our futures.

>

> Although the first human embryonic stem cell line was created in

the

> United States, a Globe survey has found that the majority of new

> embryonic cell lines -- colonies of potent cells with the ability

to

> create any type of tissue in the human body -- are now being

created

> overseas, a concrete sign that American science is losing its

> preeminence in a key field of 21st-century research.

> Nearly three years ago, the Bush administration prohibited the use

of

> federal money to work with any embryonic cell lines created after

> Aug. 9, 2001, because of moral concerns over the destruction of

human

> embryos. At the time, the president said there would be more than

60

> lines of these cells available. But today there are only 19 usable

> lines created before that date, and that number is never likely to

> rise above 23, according to the National Institutes of Health.

> However, the number of cell lines available to the world's

> researchers, but off-limits to US government-funded researchers, is

> now much higher: at least 51, according to the survey. It could

rise

> to more than 100 over the coming year. There are three new lines in

> Dvorak's lab, with four more in progress. And there are also new

> lines in Sweden, Israel, Finland, and South Korea. Last week, the

> world's first public bank of embryonic stem cells opened in the

> United Kingdom, a country where there are at least five new lines

and

> more on the way.

> ''Science is like a stream of water, because it finds its way, "

said

> Fisher, a professor at the University of California at San

> Francisco. ''And now it has found its way outside the United

States. "

> At a time when reports show the United States is losing its

dominance

> in other areas of science, Fisher and many other researchers say

they

> are increasingly worried that America is not building a competitive

> foundation in one of the most active areas of biological discovery.

> Many scientists believe that embryonic stem-cell research has the

> potential to yield profound insights into a range of afflictions,

> including Parkinson's disease and diabetes, which affect millions

of

> Americans. By restricting American use of these cells, they say,

the

> government is effectively keeping them out of the hands of many top

> scientists -- both slowing the pace of research that could lead to

> cures, and potentially putting the country behind in technologies

> that could be major business opportunities in the new century.

> Included on the list of off-limits cell lines created since 2001

are

> some cells that are easier to use and would be safer for patients

> than the Bush-approved lines. Others are tailored for the study of

> particular diseases.

> Each cell line is a colony of cells derived from a single embryo,

> which share the same DNA. One of the new cell lines has the common

> genetic mutation underlying cystic fibrosis. This cell line,

> developed overseas and not yet described in a scientific journal,

> could reveal the biological underpinnings of a debilitating disease

> that affects some 30,000 Americans. The US government will not pay

> for scientists to grow or study these cells because they were

created

> recently.

> The ballooning list of forbidden cell lines could add energy to a

> rebellion over stem cell policy within the president's own

Republican

> Party. Thirty-six Republicans were among the 206 members of the

House

> of Representatives who signed a letter asking the president to

> reconsider the ban. And two weeks ago, Reagan delivered an

> impassioned plea for research that might one day prevent the horror

> of diseases like Alzheimer's, which she said has taken former

> president Reagan ''to a distant place where I can no longer

> reach him. "

> For most diseases, embryonic stem cell research is likely many

years

> from offering any help to patients. But it is becoming increasingly

> apparent that if researchers begin to make medical progress, the US

> government -- which funds the vast majority of basic science

research

> in this country -- will be able to take little credit.

> For many foreign scientists, the restrictions imposed on the

world's

> leading biomedical power represent an opportunity. Dvorak once used

> old rum bottles as flasks in his underfunded lab. Now he is talking

> to a professor at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Ole Isacson, about

> collaborating on research.

> ''He is swimming, " said Isacson, whose lab at McLean Hospital is

> famous for its research on Parkinson's disease. ''But for us, it is

> like trying to swim on dry land. "

> * * * When human embryonic stem cells were first isolated, the

> breakthrough happened in an American lab.

> In November 1998, a team of researchers lead by biologist

> Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced it had

> isolated human embryonic stem cells and could grow them in a dish.

> Embryonic stem cells, taken from a microscopic embryo in its first

> few days of development, are in a sense the most primordial and

> powerful human cells, and can develop into any part of the body.

> The announcement created a sensation. It was clear these cells

would

> be an important new tool for studying human biology, and they also

> raised the prospect that a wide range of diseases might be treated

> someday by replacing a patient's damaged cells. Yet the work is

also

> ethically controversial, because growing stem cells requires

> destroying a human embryo. This led critics to charge the practice

> amounted to taking human lives and could not be justified no matter

> how great the potential benefits.

> In 2001, President Bush attempted to broker a compromise: In a

> nationally televised speech, he said that federally funded research

> would be limited to cell lines already in existence. He said that

the

> more than 60 lines already derived would be enough for researchers

to

> continue their work without using government money to destroy more

> embryos.

> Although much basic biological research remains to be done on the

> cell lines created before Aug. 9, 2001, it has become clear to

> American scientists that the Bush policy has put them at a

> disadvantage compared with many of their colleagues overseas. Human

> embryonic stem cells are notoriously difficult to handle, and

> deriving each new line gives the team in the laboratory a deeper

> understanding of stem-cell biology and essential practical skills.

> Abroad, this work is exploding, while in the United States only a

> handful of labs are able to do it.

> ''A lot of stem cell biology is like gardening, " said

Minger,

> who isolated the cystic fibrosis cell line and is an American

> scientist who now works at King's College London. ''Some people can

> grow orchids, and some can't grow tomatoes. "

> Governments around the world are stepping into the gap, and a

number

> are emerging as powerhouses in the field.

> In the United Kingdom, as in the United States, there has been

> contentious public debate over embryonic cell research, but the

> government has designed a system of strict oversight. With the

> opening last week of the new UK Stem Cell Bank north of London,

> funded by the government at $4.6 million over three years, that

> country is taking the kind of international leadership role which

in

> other fields has fallen to the United States. The bank will accept

> cell lines that meet a set of ethical standards, carefully study

and

> grow them to ensure they are scientifically useful, and then make

> them available to researchers.

> ''We see this as a truly international effort, " said Glyn Stacey,

the

> new bank's director.

> In Australia, the government is funding research and helping to set

> up a national stem cell center. In the Czech Republic, Dvorak's lab

> at the Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry is part of a

> Centre for Cell Therapy and Tissue Repair, supported by the

> government. South Korea has derived almost as many new lines of

human

> embryonic stem cells as the United States, according to the Globe

> survey, and researchers there were the first to create stem cells

> from a cloned human embryo -- a scientific milestone that American

> researchers grumble should have happened in the United States.

> * * * This rush of work overseas is yielding other important

> advances, such as technology that could be key in turning the

science

> of embryonic stem cells into usable therapies. All of the cell

lines

> on the US government approved list are grown on a layer of mouse

> cells. These mouse cells, called a ''feeder layer, " sustain the

human

> cells, but could also transmit mouse-borne viruses, making them

> potentially dangerous for use in humans.

> Dvorak's laboratory has just begun working with human feeder cells

> instead, a technique that could yield cells safe to transplant back

> into humans. Already, laboratories in Singapore, Israel, Sweden,

and

> Finland have isolated lines of stem cells that don't need mouse

> feeder cells. Only one American lab has done so: Fisher's

> California lab, which is barred from receiving federal funding and

is

> supported in part by the California-based biotech Geron Corp.

> None of these lines, including Fisher's, can be used by government-

> funded scientists in America. The result is that American

scientists

> with private funding are making advances that they can share freely

> with scientists overseas, but which they cannot share with

colleagues

> in their own departments.

> As much as the Bush rules have limited embryonic stem cell

research,

> they have prompted a substantial private effort to keep the

research

> moving forward. Harvard announced last month that it is building a

> privately funded effort to do the work, and it has a fund-raising

> goal of $100 million. The University of California, San Francisco

is

> already underway with a similar effort, started with a $5 million

> gift from Intel's Andy Grove, as are a number of other academic

> institutions. Earlier this month, the governor of New Jersey signed

> an agreement opening the nation's first state-funded stem cell

> institute.

> Thanks partly to this effort, none of the researchers contacted by

> the Globe said they had seen signs of a scientific ''brain drain "

> that some critics predicted. But still they worry about the more

> subtle side effects of the Bush policy. Many of the world's top

> disease specialists work at universities in the United States, yet

> they are largely unable to work on embryonic stem cells, and the

> universities are likely to have more trouble recruiting talented

> foreign scientists interested in embryonic stem cells.

> At the same time, top American researchers who might otherwise jump

> into the field are avoiding it because of the risks, scientists

said.

> And some worry that younger stem cell scientists, who don't have an

> established lab to keep them in the United States, will move

abroad,

> and perhaps stay there.

> ''That is really something to keep an eye on, " said Gearhart,

> one of the field's founders and a professor at s Hopkins

> Medicine. Gearhart said that many of the younger scientists in his

> lab are interested in pursuing further training abroad.

> Yet there could be changes coming. Last weekend, the NIH issued a

> letter hinting the White House may be open to changing its policy

at

> some point. The letter, written by NIH director Dr. Elias A.

> Zerhouni, was a response to a letter signed by 206 members of the

> House of Representatives. In it, he acknowledges that ''from a

purely

> scientific perspective more cell lines may well speed some areas of

> human embryonic stem cell research. "

> US Representative N. Castle, a Deleware Republican who

helped

> organize the House letter, said that it seems to represent a

> softening of the White House stance. In Congress, he said, support

> for stem cell research is increasing, and he added that he has been

> struck by the degree to which some people change their minds when

> they meet with patients who are suffering. ''There doesn't seem to

be

> a lot of gray area, " Castle said. ''They become real advocates. "

> In the meantime, many scientists abroad are nearly giddy with the

> possibilities the field now presents them. Dvorak and a colleague,

> Ales Hampl, are preparing to come to Boston for a major conference

> next month, organized by the International Society for Stem Cell

> Researchers. While he is in Boston, Dvorak is going to make a

> presentation of his work at Isacson's lab.

> Because of federal restrictions in the United States, Isacson said

> that he has been increasingly looking abroad for collaborators who

> are more free, and Dvorak is one possibility.