Delving into stem cells

More than a year after California voters elected to give $3
billion in bonds to fund stem cell research, and with the measure
stalled in legal proceedings, professors and researchers met to
discuss the proposition and other related issues at UCLA for a stem
cell symposium Sunday.

At the event, called “Stem Cells: Promise and Peril in
Regenerative Medicine,” several stem cell-research experts
discussed various topics, all with the goal of illuminating the
complex issues of Proposition 71 and its implications.

Speakers aimed to stimulate discussion about Proposition 71,
educate the public about the proposition, and provide a forum to
discuss such broader issues as the biological, ethical and legal
ramifications of stem cells, said Sally Gibbons, associate director
for UCLA Center for Society and Genetics.

The symposium was put on by the UCLA Center for Society and
Genetics, the UCLA Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine and
the UCLA School of Law, as well as a list of other co-sponsors.

Some speakers elaborated on the moral concerns presented by the
possibility of stem cells developing into a full human being.

Others discussed research that suggests that stem cell
advancements may have extensive possibilities to cure diseases.

Stem cells taken from embryos, which are fertilized eggs that
have begun cell division, are pluripotent, said Owen Witte, the
director of the UCLA Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine.
This means they can develop into different types of cells and have
the potential to cure diseases, such as cancer and AIDS, he
said.

In November 2004, Proposition 71 was passed by the California
voters. It promised to give California universities, hospitals and
medical schools $3 billion over 10 years to be used toward
researching stem cells.

But 15 months after the proposition was passed, the money has
yet to be dolled out.

This is because the bonds cannot be issued until a lawsuit
questioning the accountability of the proposition is settled, said
UCLA law Professor Russell Korobkin.

The legal proceedings are expected to take more than a year.

Stem cell research and use necessitate the destruction of an
embryo, so the issues with stem cells go far beyond the scientific
research and medical applications they may have. This is why so
many difficulties arise when attempting to pursue research or put
Proposition 71 into practice.

Some speakers, such as Kevin FitzGerald, the Dr. David Lauler
Chairman of Catholic Health Care Ethics in the Center for Clinical
Bioethics at Georgetown University, addressed these broader ethical
issues pertaining to stem cell research.

“We all started (as an embryo). There is a moral
obligation not to kill it … even though it is only a possibility
that a human is there,” he said.

Sharing a similar belief, President Bush banned the use of all
federal funding for all research in which embryos are destroyed,
Korobkin said.

Since the ban passed over four years ago, scientists seeking to
conduct stem cell research have faced funding difficulties, making
money from Proposition 71 and other private sources all the more
important to them.