A group of 60 scientists, doctors, philosophers, lawyers, editors and others have put forward a proposal for international guidelines for stem cell research. "Inconsistent and conflicting laws prevent some scientists from engaging in this research and hinder global collaboration," the Hinxton Group complains. The thrust of the declaration is very supportive of cloning for research and embryonic stem cell research. This is described as "an immense promise for good" which will increase knowledge of human biology and which may lead to new treatments for disease and injury.
The group's steering committee is largely British, and overwhelmingly skewed toward utilitarianism. It includes the controversial ethicists John Harris, of the University of Manchester, and Julian Savulescu, of Oxford University. The committee argues that restrictions on research should be minimal and flexible enough to accommodate rapid change. Scientists should be free to do work abroad which is banned in their own countries. (German scientists, for instance, can be prosecuted for working on projects abroad if these would be illegal in Germany.)
The Hinxton Group began its work before the Korean stem cell scandal. That debacle has now strengthened the hand of opponents of destructive embryo research and research cloning. However, the Group's 15 principles and strategies may help to establish a united front for its supporters and give stem cell research an ethical foundation.
The guidelines mention, but take no position on, two cutting-edge developments in stem cell research: the creation of human-animal hybrids and of gametes from stem cells. ~ Washington Post, Mar 2; Hinxton Group declaration
GRONINGEN PROTOCOLS TO BE ADOPTED IN HOLLAND
The Netherlands will become the first country in the world to allow involuntary euthanasia of infants, the London Times reports. After several months of deliberation, the government has adopted the so- called Groningen Protocol. This establishes a standard set of procedures for authorising doctors to kill babies with "unbearable suffering".
If a child is untreatably ill," says Dr Eduard Verhagen, the leading figure in drafting the protocol, "there can be horrendous suffering that makes the last few days or weeks of this child's life unbearable. Now the question is: are you going to leave the child like that or are you going to prevent that suffering?"
Dr Verhagen freely admits that he killed four infants without any legal authorisation. (No charges have been laid by prosecutors.) A father of three children and a paediatrician, he says that putting seriously ill children down "is in some ways beautiful", because he sees them relax for the first time since they were born. "But it is also extremely emotional and very difficult," he told the Times.
Opposition to the Groningen protocols is muted in the Netherlands, but there are critics. "It is a scary thing," says Bert Dorenbos, of the Cry for Life organisation. "Patients, particularly children, will need protection from euthanasia-minded doctors." ~ London Times, Mar 5
CAMBODIA DEPORTS EUTHANASIA ACTIVIST
An American who was promoting Cambodia as a euthanasia resort has been deported. The government declared that 57-year-old Roger Graham was endangering the national interest. Graham had been running an internet café in Kampot province as well as two web sites which promoted euthanasia. "His web site lured people in the world to come to commit suicide in Cambodia," said a government official. "Cambodia is not the place for foreigners to come to kill themselves." The authorities accused Graham of encouraging a British woman to commit suicide last year, a charge which he has denied. ~ Xinhuanet, Mar 6
PRESSURE FOR EUTHANASIA IN CHINA
A leading government official in China has called for the legalisation of euthanasia. "Conditions are not ripe yet for the nation-level legislation on euthanasia, but I suggest the state allow certain regions, cities or provinces to formulate relevant local regulations or stipulations to legalise certain individual cases," said Zhao Gongmin, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Zhao is also a member of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
"I think it is only a matter of time for euthanasia to become legal," Mr Zhao said. "Therefore, we should first allow some experiments on the local level for the purpose of accumulating experience."
There has been more open discussion of euthanasia in recent times in China. Another official of the CPPCC National Committee, a famous IT expert, Wang Xuan, who invented a computerised laser photocomposition system for Chinese character typesetting, also asked for euthanasia before he passed away last month at the age of 70. ~ Xinhua, Mar 6
HWANG ADMITS DATA FABRICATION, SAY INVESTIGATORS
Korean stem cell expert Hwang Woo-suk has told prosecutors that he ordered the fabrication of data to support his claim to have created embryonic stem cell lines. According to the Korea Times, Hwang told one of his researchers, Kwon Dae-ki, to split cells in two to fake a genetic match as data for his 2005 paper in the journal Science. The full story is still not clear. Apparently some of the leading figures in the scandal cannot agree on what actually happened. "We need some more time to confirm the truth, as the figures give different testimonies on details of the case. We'll decide who will be charged next week," a prosecutor said. ~ Korea Times, Mar 6
EMBRYOS HAVE HUMAN RIGHTS, SAYS POPE
In an opening speech to a congress on the pre-implantation embryo sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life, Pope Benedict XVI has reaffirmed the Catholic policy of describing embryos as human beings with full human rights from the moment of conception. The Church has always proclaimed the "sacred and inviolable character of every human life, from its conception to its natural end," he said. "This moral judgment is valid from the start of the life of an embryo, even before it is implanted in the maternal womb." This appears to rule out manipulation of embryos in vitro. His words came as no surprise, but were widely reported. ~ Reuters, Feb 27
US ABORTION BATTLE ENTERS NEW PHASE
In a frontal attack on Roe v Wade, the icon of the pro-choice movement, the Republican governor of South Dakota has signed a law banning nearly all abortions in his state. Abortion foes hope that the conservative justices recently added to the Supreme Count by President George W. Bush could weaken or even dismantle the landmark 1973 decision. The new law will ban nearly all abortions in South Dakota, even in cases of rape or incest or if giving birth would damage the health of the mother. At the moment, South Dakota, a state of 750,000 people, has only one abortion clinic. Supporters of both sides immediately have begun preparing for a long legal battle. ~ Reuters, Mar 6
PROMISES, PROMISES
One of the first rules of the sex selection business ought to be: never, ever, say 99.9% accurate. Unfortunately the manufacturers of Baby Gender Mentor, a US$275 do-it-yourself sex detection kit sold over the internet, broke this rule. Last year they offered women money-back guarantees for their new product, which was launched with great fanfare. The test was meant for "the type of woman who can't wait to open Christmas presents," according to the marketing company. Now 16 women have launched a class action suit against Acu-Gen Biolab complaining that the test failed. They also allege that the company refused to honour its promise. Women who complained of a failure blood samples and fingerprints of their newborns, but only one was given a refund. ~ Boston Globe, Mar 1
FINLAND DEBATES NEW FERTILITY LAW
Supporters of a deregulated environment for assisted reproduction often complain that the world is a patchwork quilt of conflicting and inconsistent legislation. A debate in Finland shows how true this is. At the present time, there is no fertility law, despite the fact that the percentage of Finnish IVF births is one of the highest in the world.
So, for the past two years, a parliamentary committee has been debating how the industry should be regulated. Initially, it took a relatively conservative stand -- it wanted to limit treatments to heterosexual couples, for instance. But the latest draft allows treatment for single women and lesbians and sets no age limit for treatment. However, to the dismay of the IVF clinics, it backs known donation of eggs and sperm, which would lead immediately to a shortage of sperm donors. It would also ban surrogacy and mandate the destruction of embryos created with anonymous gametes after six months. The proposals are sure to provoke a lively debate, says Helsinki IVF specialist Merja Tuomi-Nikula, because half of MPs apparently oppose IVF for lesbians. ~ BioNews, Feb 27
ADULT STEM CELL TRIAL FOR HEART ATTACKS INCONCLUSIVE
German doctors have found that their method of using bone marrow stem cells to repair tissue damaged by heart attacks did not work in a major clinical trial. The German researchers at the German Heart Centre in Munich gave patients a factor which stimulated stem cell activity. This worked as planned, but there was no difference in the amount of heart damage or in the heart-pumping ability of patients who got the treatment and of those who did not.
Nonetheless, researchers in the field are not discouraged. "The field is so complex at this time and there is limited understanding of which cells are most important, how many cells are needed to have a desired effect and what is the best vehicle to deliver them to the site of a myocardial infarction [heart attack]," said Dr Robert A. Kloner in an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"I, for one, am not ready to give up on this technology," he wrote. "The basic concept that stem cells may someday be used to treat heart attacks is exciting."
Several human trials are under way, Kloner said. "Some studies are using stem cells injected directly into the heart muscle, some use intracoronary artery injection, some use bone marrow stem cells. What we need now are larger, well-controlled studies." It will take four or five years for the technique to prove its worth, he said. ~ HealthDay News, Feb 28
A NATION OF GUINEA PIGS
India has become "a nation of guinea pigs", claims Wired journalist Jennifer Kahn. Legislation was passed last year which allows drug companies to test their products without providing assurances that they were proven to be safe in the country where they were developed. Like China and Brazil, India has adopted drug trial outsourcing as "a fast route to economic and scientific growth". The consulting firm McKinsey estimates that the market in India will be US$1.5 billion by the year 2010.
The problem with this, Kahn suggests is that the drugs probably deliver no benefits to poor Indian patients. Nonetheless many doctors find the financial rewards -- either for themselves or for their hospital -- for recruiting participants hard to resist. Furthermore, many of the patients are extremely naive. "When I try to explain that a drug is experimental, that it might not work, the understanding is not there," says one doctor. "One woman said to me, 'What do you mean, the drug might not work? All drugs work!'"
In his Business Ethics Blog, Chris McDonald, of Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Canada, comments that although clinical trials in underdeveloped countries do raise serious ethical concerns, the aim of a clinical trial is never to benefit the patient, but rather to assess the effectiveness of a possible therapy. ~ Wired, Mar 14; Business Ethics Blog
IN BRIEF: IVF; awakenings
IVF: About 40 per cent of parents who were about to embark upon assisted reproductive technology were found to have a psychiatric disorder, Dr Michael Alper, an associate clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, told Irish Medical News. According to Dr Alper, "we haven't done a great job of recognising that". In addition, around 40 per cent of patients drop out of IVF after each cycle. ~ Irish Medical News, Feb 27
Awakenings: A fireman who woke up and spoke after being unconscious for a decade has finally died after nearly a year of awareness. Donald Herbert, 44, was deprived of oxygen when a burning roof collapsed over him in 1995. As a result, he was blind, mute and appeared to be in a coma. But last year, after treatment with drugs normally used for patients with Parkinson's disease, he shocked his family by conversing with them for 14 hours straight. Since that time, he was able to communicate with his wife and four sons, although he never made a full recovery and had to live in a nursing home. His death came after a bout of pneumonia. ~ USA Today, Feb 21
IVF on BBC: IVF has become a TV drama, with the BBC's new show "The Family Man". Set in the highly emotional world of the fertility industry, it depicts the highs and lows, joys and sorrows of trying to have a baby through IVF. The story centres on the charismatic Dr Patrick Stowe (Trevor Eve) and his private fertility clinic. It also follows the touching stories of four couples who turn to him to make their dreams come true. ~ BBC
