The Australian newspaper predicts that the issue will be decided by a close vote -- about 55 per cent for, 45 per cent against -- perhaps as early as next week. There has been intense lobbying for and against the bill. ~ Australian, Oct 31
More and more American celebrities are weighing into the stem cell debate as election day draws closer on November 7. In Missouri, St Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan starred in an advertisement aired during Game 4 of baseball's World Series. He was expressing his opposition to an amendment to the Missouri constitution which would allow therapeutic cloning. Joining him were former Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, Mike Sweeney of the Kansas City Royals, actress Patricia Heaton and actor Jim Caviezel. In the ad, Suppan says, "Amendment 2 claims it bans human cloning, but in the 2,000 words you don't read, it makes cloning a constitutional right. Don't be deceived."
Suppan's ad was a response to a powerful and controversial 30-second spot featuring actor Michael J. Fox, who has early-onset Parkinson's disease and endorses embryonic stem cell research as a way of finding a cure. It is painful to watch Fox make his point as his head and limbs jerk spasmodically. "Senator Talent [the Republican incumbent] even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us the chance for hope," he alleges. He tells voters that "what you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans. Americans like me."
The controversial commercial, which was aired in several states, prompted right-wing radio attack dog Rush Limbaugh to ridicule Fox, claiming that he had gone off his medication or was acting in order to generate more sympathy for the cause. Limbaugh later apologised.
In some states, voters' views on stem cell research could determine the outcome of the election. Missouri is one of these, with Michael J. Fox supporting Democrat Claire McCaskill, who is seeking to unseat incumbent Governor James M. Talent. In Wisconsin, the incumbent governor, Jim Doyle, has made therapeutic cloning a centrepiece of his campaign. He is telling voters that stem cell research will bring medical cures for dread diseases and an economic boom for his state. His opponent, Republican Mark Green, opposes embryo research but supports the use of adult stem cells.
ADULT STEM CELLS CREATE MINI LIVER
British scientists claim to have grown the world's first artificial liver by using cord blood stem cells. The technique, they say, could be used to test drugs within two years, to repair damaged livers within five years and to grow livers for transplant within 15 years.
Researchers at Newcastle University took blood cells from an umbilical cord. Then they cultivated them in a "bioreactor" -- a machine developed by NASA to mimic the effects of weightlessness. This allows the cells to multiply more quickly than usual. Various hormones and chemicals coaxed the stem cells into turning into liver tissue. So far, tiny pieces of tissue, less than an inch in diameter have been created.
Ethically, the advantage of this line of research is that it does not involve the destruction of embryos. While it is good news both for opponents of therapeutic cloning and of testing drugs on animals, the research has not been peer-reviewed. ~ Medical News Today, Oct 31
TAIWANESE DEVOTION
A Taiwanese couple in their 80s who have been caring for their blind and paralyzed daughter for 53 years have insisted that they would never consider euthanasia. No matter how hard their job is, Lin Ting-chih, 81, and her husband Chiang Yu-chao, 82, plan to soldier on. "We will not let someone else look after her," says the wife. We will care for her ourselves and eventually see who is going to fall first."
Their daughter, Chiang Yu-chao, became paralysed shortly after her first birthday and became blind at six. She has never been exposed to sunlight. Her bones have become so brittle that the couple must take extreme care in turning her and cleaning her. Although there is a movement in Taiwan for euthanasia in such cases, Lin says: "No way. I will not let that happen to my daughter." ~ CNA, Oct 26
HWANG'S MAMMOTH EXPENSES
With a nuclear-armed maniac rattling his missiles only a few miles away, South Koreans are no longer as focused on their stem cell debacle as they were a few months ago. But disgraced researcher Hwang Woo-suk has been in court this month telling his side of the sad story of faked human clones and browbeaten egg donors. Hwang still insists that researchers at his lab deceived him.
As for the US$2 million that appear to have disappeared, he has some intriguing explanations. "Some of the money was spent in contacting the Russian mafia as we tried to clone mammoths," he told the court. But you can't say that [on the books], so we expensed it as money for cows for experiments." There is some confusion about what Hwang actually meant. Korean media say that he had to pay "travel taxes" to Russian gangsters on his quest for mammoth cells. ~ Baltimore Sun, Oct 28; Chosun Ilbo, Oct 27
ANIMAL RIGHTS AND THE HOLOCAUST
Efforts of radical animal rights activists to assert a moral equivalence between the slaughter of animals and the Jewish Holocaust continue. The book Eternal Treblinka, by Charles Patterson, is being published in Japanese next year. It has also been published in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Hebrew. The book's title is taken from a comment by Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, "In relation to [animals], all people are Nazis; for the animals, it is an eternal Treblinka."
Eternal Treblinka examines the common roots of animal and human oppression and the similarities between how the Nazis treated their victims and how modern society treats the animals it slaughters for food. The first part describes the emergence of humans as the "master species" and how they came to dominate the earth and its other inhabitants. The second part examines the industrialisation of slaughter of both animals and humans in modern times. The last part profiles Jewish and German animal advocates whose links to the Holocaust prompted them to get involved in animal liberation advocacy. ~ Press release
OREGON CHANGES NAME OF "PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE"
Just as cloning has been rebadged as Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer to shake off its negative connotations, Oregon has decided to rename physician assisted suicide". Its official name is now "physician- assisted death". Compassion & Choices, a euthanasia lobby group, suggested the change to Oregon's Department of Human Services, to be more consistent with the wording of the legislation which allows it. Polls show that people are more likely to approve legalising the practice when the word "suicide" is not used.
Kathryn Tucker, of Compassion & Choices, says "This will be a sea change because how you speak of things strongly influences how you think of them." Gayle Atteberry, of Oregon Right to Life, criticised the move. "They have changed it to a euphemism to make it more palatable," she said. "Do they think it is going to make it easier for people to kill themselves?" ~ Salem Statesman Journal, Oct 17; American Medical News, Nov 6
IN BRIEF: Kass, Singapore, custody, euthanasia
Kass: Just in time for Halloween Dr Leon Kass, the former chairman of the US President's Council on Bioethics, has been nominated as one of the Thirteen Scariest People in America by the progressive website AlterNet. Kass is "an intelligent, articulate and passionate guy", writes Clive Thompson, but his world view is "so medieval it would have embarrassed C.S. Lewis". His baneful influence has ensured that the US will not have a "big, sprawling debate on stem- cell research". ~ AlterNet, Oct 31
Singapore: The National University of Singapore has opened a Centre for Biomedical Ethics which will focus on the stem cell research which the government hopes will become a major income spinner. The centre, the only one of its kind in Southeast Asia, plans to organise regional bioethics seminars to share its expertise. Its British head, Professor Alastair Campbell, is a former president of the International Society of Bioethics.
Custody: A bizarre custody and surrogacy case has become even more complicated after a decision by the Utah Supreme Court. A Canadian man living in Las Vegas, Arturo Nuosci, paid Rachel Sullivan to be a surrogate mother for his child. However, when he was jailed for (unrelated) fraud, Sullivan relinquished her parental rights and gave the child to a Utah couple, Matt and Toni Worthington for adoption. Then she asked for the child back. The latest court ruling returns the child, who is now two years old, to Nuosci and Sullivan, although they are hardly a "couple". The case now goes back to the courts for a decision on the toddler's future, as in other custody disputes between biological parents. ~ AP, Oct 28
Euthanasia: A French court has convicted an 80-year-old mother of murdering her disabled daughter, but gave her only a two-year suspended sentence. Leonie Crevel was the only carer for 42-year-old Florence. In July 2004 she tied a rope around her daughter's neck and pushed her off the bed. The prosecutor had asked for a five-year suspended sentence. "This was not euthanasia," said Delphine Miennel. "Florence had the right to live, even if she was heavily disabled. Florence never asked for that her suffering be brought to an end." ~ AP, Oct 24
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The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has been holding its annual meeting in New Orleans -- always a reliable source of choke- on-your-Cheerios articles for newspapers around the world. This year the journal Nature even dispatched a reporter, Helen Pearson, who blogged her way through the "strange stuff that doctors do with embryos" throughout the week.
Fifteen minutes watching a medical clown after an IVF cycle bumps pregnancy rates up from 20% to 36%, according to an Israeli doctor. Shevach Friedler, who is also a trained mime, says that dressing like a chef works better than wearing a red nose. ~