Australasian Bioethics Information
Debate intensifies before Parliament resumes
CLONING / Bargain basement animal cloning technique
RESEARCH / US allows embryo research with private funds
PATIENTS / Female doctors more empathetic
EUTHANASIA / Swiss company specialises in suicide
IVF / US couples refusing to give up on fertility treatments
FERTILITY / Testes grown on backs of mice
IN BRIEF / Abortion education; girls in India; Ritalin
EMBRYO RESEARCH / Debate intensifies before Parliament resumes
With embryo stem cell research on Federal Parliament's agenda when it resumes next week, debate in the media has become intense. Both sides have dragged in heavy artillery from overseas. Members of the US President's Council on Bioethics have been recruited to argue for and against it and the face of embryo research in Australia, Professor Alan Trounson, has been carrying his message across the country.
Early in the week, Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson warned that women might be exploited by human egg farmers. "Call it a slippery slope, call it a progression, call it whatever -- but this is a profound decision," Mr Anderson told a Sydney forum. He was supported by immunologist Professor Michael Good, director of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. "to me, the science in favour of embryonic stem cell research does not stack up," he said.
A group called the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research Australia (CAMRA) called upon politicians here not to be swayed by "irrational hype or irrelevant distractions". It also advised the public to trust the wisdom of politicians in the US and UK, where this research is allowed. Although several prominent Australian scientists have recently opposed the proposed legislation, CAMRA asserted that world scientists "unanimously" agreed on the need for both embryonic and adult stem cell research.
Interesting points emerged in an ABC Lateline debate between Professor Trounson and Dr David van Gend, of Queensland, a spokesman for Do No Harm. Professor Trounson acknowledged that the embryos were "clearly human" and claimed that researchers treated them "with respect" and that the current law forced doctors to destroy them. However, he also contended that since the law already allowed destructive treatments such as abortion on demand, the morning-after pill and the IUD, a right to destroy five or six-day-old embryos was already well established.
In response, Dr Van Gend said that "we cannot define this littlest member of the human family as mere meat for the consumption of science." It may be smaller than a full stop, he said, but physicist Paul Davies argues that the universe was once smaller than a full stop, too. ~ Australian, Aug 12; CAMRA press release, Aug 14; Lateline, Aug 14 RETURN TO TOP
CLONING / Bargain basement animal cloning technique
Danish and Australian scientists have developed a technique for cloning animals which is far cheaper and possibly more effective than existing methods. "It's a huge step towards roboticising the whole process," says Michael Bishop, former president of Infigen, a cattle-cloning company in Wisconsin. Its big advantage, says the New Scientist, is that relatively cheap equipment is used and personnel can be trained very quickly. It would also be far easier to automate.
In the new technique, egg cells are cut in half with a fine blade. The halves containing the nucleus are discarded and the others are fused with a cell from an adult animal by zapping them with an electric current. The method has already been tried in field conditions by the Endangered Wildlife Trust in South Africa. "One can set up a lab very cheaply," commented a South African researcher. "You can imagine doing this in a trailer." The New Scientist said that one concern was the possibility of maverick scientists doing human cloning. ~ New Scientist, Aug 14
RESEARCH / US allows embryo research with private funds
In a little-noticed ruling back in March, the US National Institutes of Health allowed scientists to do research on new embryonic stem cell lines so long as they do it with private money. Hitherto, academic researchers were reluctant to work on embryos at all for fear of jeopardising federal grants. "[This] is a big deal," says the chief scientific officer of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. "As long as you bookkeep properly, you can study lines created beyond August 9 [2001]." ~ New York Times, Aug 7
CONJOINED TWINS / Philadelphia twins happy after 40 years
While separating surgery for Guatemalan twins joined at the head hit the headlines in recent weeks, 40-year-old unseparated American twins in Philadelphia insist that they are living healthy, productive lives. Lori and Reba Schappell are joined at the left side of each of their skulls and doctors say that it would be harmful to separate them. Reba has spina bifida and is wheeled around on a special stool. Both have finished high school and attended university classes. Lori worked for six years in a hospital laundry but gave this up in 1996 so that Reba could launch a country music career. She has performed in Atlantic City, Japan and Germany, belting out her single, "The Fear of Being Alone". "I don't live every day thinking about the fact that I'm a conjoined twin," says Lori. "It's not the biggest thing in my life." ~ Mercury, Aug 16
PATIENTS / Female doctors more empathetic
Women GPs spend more time with patients than men and talk more about personal issues, a US study has found. Health policy expert Debra Roter of Johns Hopkins University reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that women doctors may offer "a relatively more health-promoting therapeutic milieu". On average, women doctors spent 23 minutes with patients, compared with 21 minutes for men doctors. They also spent more time discussing health-related lifestyle and social issues, engaging in positive, emotionally supportive talk and involving patients in their care. ~ AP, Aug 13 RETURN TO TOP
EUTHANASIA / Swiss company specialises in suicide
A Swiss company is helping foreign nationals commit suicide in Zurich. A BBC report has revealed that a company named Dignitas has assisted more than 100 terminally, chronically or psychologically ill people from different countries to commit suicide. Apart from offering an introduction to a doctor who can provide lethal drugs, the firm also provides a flat where the suicide can take place. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, although profiting from it is not. Dignitas charges a membership fee of about A$30. ~ BBC, Aug 12
IVF / US couples refusing to give up on fertility treatments
American couples who are having trouble becoming pregnant are pushing the limits of fertility treatment by having eight or more IVF cycles, according to the Los Angeles Times. "People are more willing and confident today to spend longer on the fertility treadmill," says Dr Paul Zarutskie, a California IVF doctor. "It's not sure if that's a good thing. At some point, physicians have an ethical responsibility to help people get off the treadmill and consider other options."
Some doctors may not be candid with patients over 40 about how slim their chances are for getting pregnant. There is also concern that doctors may understate the emotional, financial and medical risks from a number of unsuccessful procedures. The Los Angeles Times reports that the US$2 billion-a-year IVF industry is booming even in a sluggish economy. The number of procedures between 1995 and 1999, the last year for which information is available, rose nearly 40%. ~ Los Angeles Times, Aug 12
FERTILITY / Testes grown on backs of mice
US researchers have used mice to produce goat and pig sperm using testes grafted onto their backs. The procedure involves transplanting a tiny amount of testicular tissue from a newborn animal under the skin of adult mice with deficient immune systems, so that the transplant is not rejected. Until now it has not been possible to grow sperm outside of an animal.
Although it is still not certain whether eggs fertilised by sperm from grafted testes would result in healthy embryos, scientists are already describing it as a procedure which could preserve the fertility of a boy who needs sterilising cancer treatment. ~ Nature, Aug 15; Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug 15 RETURN TO TOP
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Australasian Bioethics Information
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