New technique to obtain embryonic stem cells does not arouse ethical objections

Madrid, Spain, Oct 18, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The discovery made by in the United States to extract embryonic cells without destroying the embryo would not arouse the  ethical objections that usually occur in this field, according to an article published by the Garcia Morente Foundation, on their website analisisdigital.com

According to the article, the results of two public investigation published in the Nature review, have been welcomed with great enthusiasm in the whole world.“ In the United States, the possibility that public funding might be destined to embryonic stem cell research is at stake, if it is demonstrated that this technique, differing from ‘conventional’ therapeutic cloning doesn’t suppose the assassination of an embryo.”

“The fist of these investigations, as states the review a few days ago, consists in introducing, in the ovule, an egg with a modified gene, in order that the remaining cell, loses its capacity to develop and therefore differs from a normal embryo.”

“Doctor Robert Lanza-he follows-and a team of the Advanced Cell Techology company  presented an other investigation that consists in extracting a cell of the eight first that forms in the new being, and to implant the seven other in the uterus.”

If indeed in both investigations the experiment was carried out with rats, “Lanza announced that research on human beings already started. It does work, he says, the kids that are born through this technique would rely on a bank of personalized stem cells.” The scientists affirm that “if health problems develop, would it be a heart disease, diabetes, including if they grow bald and need hair cells, theses cells would be there.”

Likewise, a future application would be the possibility to “obtain these stem cells from the umbilical cordon, once the baby is born. But Lanza proclaimed  that “there is a human tragedy out there that continues claiming the health and lives of millions, meanwhile we confide in applying our investigation to the human being.

There is a lot of people  than simply don’t have the time to wait that we obtain these functions,” referring to the millions of frozen embryos that remain in the hospitals and which future is uncertain.”

“The investigation line opened by Lanza-the article continues- harvested major critics, from the fact that the cells extracted could develop and form a new embryo to the objection that it supposes a unjustifiable manipulation of a human being.”

According to digital edition of Nature, various senators have welcomed with interest these findings. Nevertheless, other experts like the chief of the stem cell program at the University of Health and Science in Portland, Oregon, has warned of the “danger that an ‘impaired embryo’ could be yielded, that “would be condemned to die soon.”

On the other hand, Princeton professor of jurisprudence, Robert P. George, member of the Presidents council for Bioethics, declared to the Washington Post, that "Nobody should be speaking too quickly here on either side. The way to find out is to do the careful studies to figure out exactly what you've got here. It's not a spiritual question. We're not looking for a soul. The question is, 'Does it have the [biological basis] for self-construction and self-organization, or is it a fundamentally disordered growth?' "