The therapeutic promise of human embryonic stem cell research means that such research must be allowed to proceed, albeit under well-regulated conditions, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) president Dr. Alan Bernstein says.
Bernstein says stem cells, which have the potential to grow into all types of human tissue, may one day be used to cure diseases such as diabetes “that today cause tremendous pain and suffering in individuals and their families, at an ongoing cost to our health care system and our economy.” He made the comments in April while unveiling draft guidelines to govern such research.
Developed by a 10-member CIHR ad hoc Working Group on Stem Cell Research chaired by Dr. Janet Rossant, cohead of the Program in Development and Fetal Health at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, the guidelines would allow researchers to derive stem cells from fetal tissue obtained during elective abortions or embryos left over from fertility treatments (www.cihr.ca).
It is the source of these cells — human embryos — that has stirred controversy. Pro-life groups such as the Campaign Life Coalition have already spoken out against using embryos for research.
Canada's proposal is less restrictive than US guidelines now being reviewed by the Bush administration, but don't go as far as rules in the United Kingdom, which allow scientists to create embryos for research purposes.
Rossant's panel rejected the use of embryos created by somatic cell nuclear transfer, saying that the underlying science is faulty and that the practice would inevitably lead to human cloning. “Not only do people find it troublesome on ethical grounds, but it is an inefficient technique that leads to abnormalities,” Rossant says.
The guidelines would make stem cell research eligible for funding in CIHR grant competitions, under the auspices of a national oversight body that would undertake an ethical review of all protocols and license scientists who perform such research. The creation of such a body has been a core element of long-promised federal legislation on reproductive technologies. The CIHR guidelines, now being shepherded through a public consultation process, will likely be tagged on to the federal legislation.
Although pro-life groups oppose stem cell research, other groups expressed support for the guidelines after fears that they might promote the sale of ova were laid to rest. This happened when Rossant's committee recommended that gametes not be used to create embryos for the sole purpose of generating stem cell lines.
“That would certainly have been the dividing line,” says Ruth Brown, health convenor for the National Council of Women of Canada. “All of these processes should not be commercialized.”
Dr. Patricia Baird, the geneticist who headed the federal Royal Commission on Reproductive Technologies that issued its report in 1993, says the key to public acceptance will be the nature of the oversight regime that's ultimately adopted. “Unless we have a proper management system to reassure people that what is being done is ethical, balanced and accountable, I think we could end up not, in fact, using some of the potentially promising avenues of research that are presenting themselves now.”