24 May 2005 · Issue 160

IN THIS WEEK'S BioEDGE

  Korean team proves that therapeutic cloning is possible
      Acclaimed by scientists around the world
  Reaction to Korean cloning story
      Bush vows to veto embryo research bill
  The other kind of cloning becomes agenda item
      Top scientists endorse reproductive cloning
  British scientists call for stem cell reality check
      Stem cells could spread disease without careful monitoring
  Illegal group ferrying Britons to Zurich to die
      Group allegedly defying the law
  Living wills won't save money
      US health secretary backpedals on claim
  US animal rights activists target medical labs
      Animal rights extremists becoming more active
  ABI in the media: "Promise of miracles a false one"
  Correction
  IN BRIEF: Medical errors; Surrogacy

Korean team proves that therapeutic cloning is possible

A team of Korean scientists has stunned the scientific world with its rapid progress towards therapeutic cloning. Woo-Suk Hwang and his colleagues have successfully created 11 lines of human embryonic stem cells using donated eggs and genetic material from unrelated people ranging in age from 10 to 56. Their work shows clearly that it is possible to clone humans, just as Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996. For stem cell scientists around the world it was a confirmation of their conviction that revolutionary therapies will emerge from this work. "It's a breakthrough that I didn't think would happen for decades," commented developmental biologist Gerald Schatten, of the University of Pittsburgh, an adviser to the team.

One of the most significant advances was an enormous increase in efficiency. Last year Hwang reported that it had taken him 242 eggs to produce a single stem cell line. In just one year he achieved a ten-fold increase in efficiency, making a stem cell line with an average of fewer than 20 eggs. "People will have to rethink the argument that it's not efficient," says Rudolf Jaenisch, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One reason for the technical improvement was Hwang's discovery that freshly harvested eggs from young fertile women are the ones best suited for cloning.

All observers -- whether or not they support therapeutic cloning --- agree that miracle cures are not around the corner. Professor Bob Williamson, a leading stem cell researcher in Australia, said that one of the most valuable outcomes of Hwang's work would be to provide cellular models of disease in order to screen drugs and to do genetic research.

Although the experiment was a technical tour de force, ethical questions remain, even apart from the contentious issue of whether human embryos should be created and destroyed at all. Hwang was widely criticised after his last experiment because he apparently used eggs donated by one of his post-graduate students. This time he tried hard to make the informed consent process transparent and rigorous. Unfortunately, two bioethicists from Stanford University gave him a what amounted to C-minus for his efforts.

They concluded that "Hwang and colleagues' discussion of the consent process and their consent forms reveal little attention to the risks of the procedure and instead focus on the research aspects of their contribution". The bioethicists highlighted an ethical difficulty inherent in the whole therapeutic cloning project: that the word "therapeutic" is misleading. "It is nearly certain that the clinical benefits of the research are years or maybe decades away," say Magnus and Cho. "This is a message that desperate families and patients will not want to hear." ~ Science, May 20; Sydney Morning Herald, May 21   

Reaction to Korean cloning story

Scientists elsewhere feel left in the dust by the Koreans. Completely overshadowed by Hwang's announcement was the news that a team had cloned the first human embryo in Britain -- and the first in the West, as the Telegraph reminded its readers. Unfortunately, the Best in the West at the Centre for Life, in Newcastle upon Tyne, were left mulling over the fact that they still were two years behind the Koreans, although they joined the chorus and hailed the development as "excellent, impressive and historic". They had not even managed to extract stem cells from their embryos. Sir Chris Evans, a biotech entrepreneur, believes that this underlines the urgency of raising money for British science. "Countries are forging ahead whilst we ponder our greatness in this field," he mused. ~ New York Times, May 22; Deutsche Welle, May 20; Telegraph, May 20   

The other kind of cloning becomes agenda item

Although Woo-Suk Hwang made it clear that making babies was definitely not on his agenda, the news prompted Michael Kinsley, of the Los Angeles Times, one of the leading newspaper columnists in the US, to wonder whether reproductive cloning was so bad an idea that life-saving therapeutic cloning should be banned to stop it. "Is human cloning such an horrific concept that it crosses a line into the territory of Frankenstein and 'Brave New World'? Well, they said the same thing 27 years ago about in-vitro fertilisation (test-tube babies), and that is now virtually uncontroversial."

And in Britain, two renowned scientists said that it would bring enormous benefits to childless couples. Nobel Prize laureate James Watson, of DNA fame, told a conference that there was nothing inherently wrong with cloning. "I'm in favour of anything that will improve the quality of an individual family's way of life." And Professor Robert Edwards, who was responsible for the first test-tube baby 27 years ago, said that eventually cloning would become safe and should be permitted. "If we stand back and say it can't be done this is letting our patients down," he asserted. ~ Washington Post, May 22; Guardian, May 20   

British scientists call for stem cell reality check

Three of the UK's leading stem cell scientists have reminded their colleagues that the safety and efficacy of stem cells has yet to be proven. Peter Braude, Stephen L. Minger and Ruth Warwick have pointed out in the British Medical Journal that "the premature use of cell therapy could put many patients at risk of viral or prion diseases unless systems are in place". Stem cell enthusiasts should remember deaths from the premature application of gene therapy, the devastation of HIV-infected haemophiliacs, hepatitis C spread through blood transfusions and the mysterious emergence of mad cow disease. "Commercial companies are springing up around the world with all the fervour of a new 'biological dotcom' era, but with selective memory loss for the fact that unrealistically high expectations burst that bubble," they write. ~ BMJ.com, May 21   

Illegal group ferrying Britons to Zurich to die

A former head of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society in the UK has set up a secret group to subsidise travel to a Swiss suicide clinic. The group has also been providing escorts for terminally ill people and offering advice on how to arrange their deaths. According to the Telegraph newspaper, which revealed the existence of the group, named The Last Choice, or TLC, after an undercover investigation, all of these activities are clearly illegal under British law.

The organiser of the group is Dr Michael Irwin, a well-known euthanasia activist in the UK. His advice to an undercover reporter posing as the child of an elderly man was to tell the father's GP a "white lie" to obtain his medical records. These are needed by the clinic to confirm a terminal condition. He assured the reporter that there was very little risk involved. If it came to light that someone had abetted a suicide, the government would probably turn a blind eye to the matter. "And if it ever did become a legal offence, then I think public opinion would be so dramatic that nothing further would ever happen," he said.

It has also emerged that the suicide clinic, Dignitas, has begun to film the deaths of its clients to avoid future prosecution. This became known when an Irishman was filmed recently assenting to a lethal dose of drugs. Martin Barry was a 30-year-old Irish freelance journalist and broadcaster who announced on radio last year that he would seek the help of Dignitas to kill himself because he was suffering intolerably from multiple sclerosis. About five Irish people and 30 British have been killed by Dignitas. ~ Telegraph, May 8; Observer, May 15   

Living wills won't save money

However, after academics pointed out that this appeared to be false, Mr Leavitt's staff were forced to play down his comments. The consensus seems to be that while advance directives may give people the power to make decisions, they do not save money. There are several reasons: many people sign documents with conflicting or limited instructions; many do not include a do-not-resuscitate order; some doctors do not follow the directives; and not all directives call for less aggressive and less costly treatment." ~ Washington Post, May 6   

US animal rights activists target medical labs

"There is no question that the fringes of the animal welfare and environmental rights movements have become increasingly radicalised," said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, which monitors hate groups. "These sectors see themselves in a war against the entire government and industrial democracy itself." ~ AP, May 18   

Correction

In last week's newsletter, BioEdge 159, we inadvertently muddled the name of the chair of the British inquiry into the Shipman murders. She is Dame Janet Smith. Our apologies. ~ Editor, BioEdge   

ABI in the media

"Promises of miracles a false one"
by Michael Cook, The Australian, May 23   

IN BRIEF: Medical errors; Surrogacy;