BioEdge 209:

Tuesday, 4 July 2006

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BioEdge 209:

THIS WEEK

Dolly's cloner backs designer babies
Wilmut publishes book this week

BMA reverts to opposing euthanasia
Last year's decision reversed by big majority

Neuroethics kicks off with lie detector debate
New society created

Telling the truth about power
Israelis debate health of prime ministers

Brainstorming the egg-sourcing conundrum
Unpalatable, but real, alternatives

Australia wavers on therapeutic cloning
Federal government at odds with states

"Ethical" stem cells found?
Embryonic stem cells through parthenogenesis

Small gain for embryonic stem cells
Rats helped to walk

Politics in the genes
Are views on death penalty genetically determined?

US stem cell politics round-up
Senate, California, Missouri

IN BRIEF: Dignitas, IVF, lies, Hwang back

APOLOGIES

Last week there was no issue of BioEdge. Our apologies.
The Editor was felled by the flu.

DOLLY'S CLONER BACKS DESIGNER BABIES

Ian Wilmut with his best-known achievement

A book on the cloning debate by the world's most prominent spokesman for therapeutic cloning is being launched this week. Ian Wilmut's After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning", written with the science editor of the London Telegraph, reviews current scientific and social policy.

In an interview with the London Times, Dr Wilmut contends that it might be immoral not to use cloning in order to produce disease-free babies. "We shouldn't be so frightened of these technologies," he says. Although he thinks that it is unlikely that qualities like intelligence can be modified, he is not opposed to it in theory. "If in the future people were confident enough I think it would deserve serious consideration," he muses. ~ London Times, July 2

BMA REVERTS TO OPPOSING EUTHANASIA

Last year the British Medical Association abandoned a decades-old policy of opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia in a controversial vote at its annual meeting. But its fling with neutrality ended abruptly last week. Members at this year's meeting voted to reverse the decision by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.

Dr Michael Wilks, the chairman of the BMA ethics committee, and a supporter of euthanasia, glumly attributed the change of heart to ballots carried out by three major doctors' associations which showed that a clear majority opposed changing the law on euthanasia in Britain. The result was a triumph by the lobby group Care Not Killing, an alliance of church, palliative care and disability groups. Its campaign director, Dr Peter Saunders, commented that "If good palliative care is provided, requests for euthanasia are extremely rare. We should be doing all we can to make sure that this care is made more widely available." ~ BBC, London Times, June 29

NEUROETHICS KICKS OFF WITH LIE DETECTOR DEBATE

Lie detectors which scan the brain and not trembling hands and racing pulses are a new challenge for bioethics, and especially its newer sub-speciality, neuroethics. Two American companies have been launched to market the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in identifying deceit. The companies, No Lie MRI and Cephos, say that their goal is to exonerate the innocent and to replace the widely discredited polygraph machine. Their machines detect lies about 90% of the time, they claim.

Despite far more sophisticated technology and promising experimental work, there are reservations. Statisticians complain that interpretations of brain scans may be questionable or yield results which are statistically insignificant. Ethicists have even more gripes. Detecting laboratory lies, they point out, is quite different from real-life lies. A technical failure could send someone to death row.

The rapidly developing field of neuroscience willl eventually lead to technologies which can read minds to some extent. A brain scan might be able to finger a suspect because of the way he reacts to an image or to a word, for instance. "This is the first time that we have ever been able to get information directly from the brain," says bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe, of the University of Pennsylvania. People find the idea extraordinarily frightening." Mind-reading used to be science fiction -- but now its day may have arrived. To discuss these dilemmas of neuroscience, a Neuroethics Society has just been founded in the US, with a stellar cast of American bioethicists, including Steven Hyman, of Harvard, Michael Gazzaniga, of the University of California at Santa Barbara, and Laurie Zoloth, of Northwestern University. ~ Nature, June 22

TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT POWER

When do politicians lose the right to medical privacy? For Israelis, this is hardly a theoretical question. When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon collapsed with a stroke in January, the nation was almost paralysed while he lay unconscious. A senior neurologist at Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Professor Avi Reches, contended at a recent seminar that the public's right to know about a leader's health is more important than his or her right to privacy. He proposed that a statutory body of physicians should be created to decide if a prime minister is capable of continuing at the tiller.

How doctors dealt with another PM was the centre of different debate. Dr Ofer Grosbard, a clinical psychologist, has just written a book alleging that the late Menachem Begin suffered from manic depression. He criticised Begin's colleagues for failing to disclose his weakness even though it had impaired his ability to do his job. ~ Jerusalem Post, July 3

BRAINSTORMING THE EGG-SOURCING CONUNDRUM

Therapeutic cloning will only succeed if scientists can source all the eggs they need to create cloned embryos. Since egg retrieval is uncomfortable, at best, and dangerous, at worst, few women are likely to volunteer. Nor is there a market in eggs, for in most countries selling eggs for research is banned. However there are alternatives. Rabbit or cow eggs are the solutions most often mentioned, but philosopher Heidi Mertes, of Ghent University in Belgium, has identified a few others in a recent issue of BioNews.

She says that "Depending on the kind of research, oocytes retrieved from surgically removed ovaries, cadavers, animals, aborted foetuses or even embryonic stem cells could be used." As IVF clinics improve their ability to mature women's eggs, the possibilities expand. Israeli researchers have already looked into the option of extracting egg follicles from aborted foetuses (BioEdge 82), leading to the possibility that a girl could become a mother without ever having been born. ~ BioNews, June 26

The path through embryonic stem cell research is clearer now. Brazilian researchers told the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology last month that they had produced both eggs and sperm from mouse embryonic stem cells by cultivating them and adding a chemical messenger called retinoic acid. To their surprise embryoid bodies developed which produced both mature sperm and eggs. This leads to the speculation -- 20 or 30 years away, the scientists say -- that infertile couples could create viable eggs or sperm or that men could produce eggs or women sperm. The technique could also supply eggs for IVF clinics or for cloning research. ~ news@nature.com, June 23

AUSTRALIA WAVERS ON THERAPEUTIC CLONING

Australia could possibly legalise therapeutic cloning, after Federal cabinet was roundly criticised for recommending that a national ban be extended. Health Minister Tony Abbott reportedly feels that there have been no scientific breakthroughs which warrant lifting the ban. Nonetheless, Prime Minister John Howard softened under pressure after the premiers of the states of Victoria and Queensland threatened to break ranks on the issue. They believe that therapeutic cloning and the burgeoning field of stem cell research will be a bonanza for their local economies. Now Mr Howard promises to discuss the ban at a conference with the states later this month and with his Parliamentary colleagues in August.

Mr Howard tends to be a conservative on social issues, but he has no firm beliefs on stem cell research and could be swayed either way. The easiest solution would be to adopt the permissive recommendations of a committee appointed by Federal Parliament. Its acting head, law professor Loan Skene, complains that reforms are being held up by "fundamentalism". Her view is that: "Where people can benefit, it is hard to accept that research should be prohibited because of religious or philosophical objections from others, however sincerely held." ~ Herald Sun, June 29

"ETHICAL" STEM CELLS FOUND?

Researchers at the University of Milan claim to have created embryonic stem cells without embryos, leading to hopes that they can be created "ethically". Their solution is to extract stem cells from parthenotes, embryo-like structures which develop without fertilisation. In humans, these can never develop into true embryos, but they can survive long enough to yield stem cells. The process is unlikely to quench the demand for conventional ESCs. But it could be useful in countries with restrictions on embryo research, such as the US. Australian researcher Alan Trounson said that it was exciting news, but that more work was needed to prove that they were actually ESCs, as they did not display all characteristics as expected. ~ Nature, June 29, New Scientist, July 2

SMALL GAIN FOR EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS

Paralysed rats treated with a cocktail of embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, proteins and drugs have recovered some movement, say researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Lead researcher Dr Douglas Kerr says that the work is a big step forward towards a cure for spinal cord injury and other kinds of paralysis; clinical trials might be possible within five years. He said the big limitation was lack of federal funding -- hundreds of millions will be needed to bring the development through to clinical trials. ~ Baltimore Sun, June 21

POLITICS IN THE GENES

With IVF specialists hot in pursuit of genes for dread diseases so that they can filter out defective embryos, the latest issue of Science brings intriguing news. According to political scientist (not a geneticist) Donald R. Kinder, of the University of Michigan, kids may be hard-wired to be Republican or Democrats.

Until quite recently, the assumption that political beliefs are acquired through experience has been taken as an article of faith," writes Dr Kinder. "Rapid developments in human behavioural genetics have made this stance increasingly difficult to maintain." Statistical studies of the politics of twins indicated that adult political beliefs on issues like the death penalty or school prayer have a sizeable genetic component".

On matters of politics, parents may influence their biological offspring as much through the 'genetic blueprint' they provide at conception as through the modelling and instruction they provide later on." Does this suggest that parents could sift out embryos with defective views on the death penalty? Time will tell. ~ Science, June 30

US STEM CELL POLITICS ROUND-UP

This (Northern) summer could bring a debate on stem cell research in the US Congress. Senate majority leader Bill Frist says that he plans to schedule debate on three separate bills involving stem cell research. Opposing sides have already held rival news conferences to boost the troops. At a news conference this week, the leading opponent of cloning in the Senate, Senator Sam Brownback, of Kansas, highlighted the 70th peer-reviewed publication showing medical success from adult stem cells or stem cells from cord blood. ~ kaisernetwork.org, June 21

Californian embryonic stem cell research supporters continue to squabble over their stem cell institute created in 2004 by Proposition 71. The institute wants to ensure that the state receives a 25% royalty on all revenue over US$500,000 generated by grants from the institute. It would also force researchers to disseminate their discoveries. Not surprisingly, biotech groups have complained that these restrictions could eliminate incentives to commercialise stem cell products. ~ Mercury, June 30

In November's poll, voters in the state of Missouri will be asked to support an amendment to the state constitution which would erect a firewall around therapeutic cloning and embryo research, protecting it from any move by the legislature to ban them. The local debate is a mirror of those elsewhere, but the imbalance in spending so far in the campaign is surprising. Supporters of stem cell research have raised US$10 million, while opponents only $144,000. The latter are counting on grassroots campaigning to get voters to the polls on election day. ~ St Louis Business Journal, June 23

IN BRIEF: Dignitas, IVF, lies, Hwang back

DIGNITAS: Four Australians have apparently journeyed to Switzerland to die at the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Zurich. This news emerged after euthanasia activist Dr Philip Nitschke announced that the latest victim was a 93-year-old woman from Adelaide who had chronic pain but was not in danger of death. ~ Sunday Mail, July 2

IVF: More than 3 million children have been born from IVF around the world since the birth of Louise Brown in 1978. According to a report presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Conference, Denmark has the highest percentage of IVF births at about 4%, while Latin American has the lowest, at about 0.1%. Nearly 56% of all ART cycles are in Europe and half of all IVF techniques are carried out in four countries: the US, Germany, France and Britain. ~ Reuters, June 21

LIES: Some infertile British couples are lying about their identities to get access to government funding for IVF. In the UK, the government covers the cost of three cycles of IVF, which would cost £3,000 privately. But if a couple breaks up during treatment or if the woman takes longer than three cycles to conceive, they may resort to lies to keep in the system. Dr Luca Sabatini, of St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, said that identity fraud was a minor problem, but that it could have important medical-legal complications for the parent's legal rights and the identity of the child. The UK's fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, dismissed the report, calling it a "flawed and contradictory study". ~ Scotsman, June 21

HWANG BACK: Disgraced South Korean stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk will open a laboratory in Seoul this month to resume his work on animal cloning, even though he is currently on trial for embezzlement and violation of bioethics laws. Private donors have provided funds for his work. "It is Dr. Hwang's belief that the only way to reclaim his honour and repay the people who have helped him, and win their forgiveness, is to produce accomplishments in research," his lawyer says.~ Reuters, June 28

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Australasian Bioethics Information
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BioEdge editor: Michael Cook
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