Stanford's Stem Cell Project Fuels Debate

Project's Goal Is To Develop Disease Treatments

SAN FRANCISCO -- Stanford University's announcement Tuesday that it will start work on growing stem cells has garnered opinions from nearly everyone -- including other scientists.

The university's scientists say the research they're embarking on won't involve cloning embryos.

But other experts say that's in fact what it is -- cloning.

Dr. Irving Weissman, the director of the new Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at Stanford, said the work involves taking DNA from diseased adult human cells and transferring them into eggs, then growing them in the lab.

The goal is not to create a human, but to grow stem cells, which can go on to form many types of tissue, Weissman said.

"The method we are talking about to make new embyonic stem cell lines that are from humans that have particular diseases and cancers will enable us to study that," Weissman said Tuesday. "The benefits-to-risk ratio is so high and it opens up such a large field of potential."

Other scientists say this kind of transfer would create an exact genetic replica of the adult cell donor if allowed to grow.

One expert at a Massachusetts firm criticized for similar research said the experiments will create "something that some view as an embryo."

Weissman told partner station NBC11 in San Francisco that he doesn't have an ethical problem with the research: "I don't find an ethical problem in finding a way which doesn't harm anybody to develop tools to understand and treat diseases."

Stem cells are created in the first days of pregnancy and develop into all the cells that make up a human body. Many people think they can ultimately be used to treat many illnesses.

But embryos must be destroyed to harvest the cells, and some anti-abortion activists and others oppose that.

Mark Crotty, from the Santa Clara County Pro Life Council, said he thinks Stanford will be taking away life.

"They are assaulting lives by using embryonic stem cells for research," Crotty said.

An anonymous donor has committed $12 million for the institute, which will focus on developing new treatments for cancer and other diseases, such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease and cardiovascular disease.

Stanford University Medical Center

Previous Stories:

• December 11, 2002: Australian Parliament OKs Stem Cell Research
• December 10, 2002: Stanford Launches Human Embryo Cloning Project
• December 9, 2002: Genetic Advances Divide Public Opinion
• November 27, 2002: China Nears Goal Of Cloning Pandas
• November 26, 2002: Scientist Claims Clone Will Be Born In January
• June 3, 2002: Cloning Advance Shows Potential For Transplants
• April 5, 2002: Subject In Cloning Study Conceives

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