[isml] Biotech execs: Criminalizing cloning may spur scientificbrain drain (fwd)

From: Eugene Leitl (Eugene.Leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)
Date: Fri Aug 03 2001 - 06:02:12 MDT


-- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://www.lrz.de/~ui22204/">leitl</a>
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 19:53:58 -0700
From: DS2000 <ds2000@mediaone.net>
Reply-To: isml@yahoogroups.com
To: isml <isml@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [isml] Biotech execs: Criminalizing cloning may spur scientific
    brain drain

>From Silicon Valley.Com,
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/081780.htm
-
Posted at 2:57 a.m. PDT Thursday, Aug. 2, 2001

Biotech execs: Criminalizing cloning may spur scientific brain drain

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Cloning and embryonic stem cell research in the United
States is plodding along while lawmakers wrestle with the legality of the
science, but overseas, researchers are blazing ahead.

Israeli scientists, for instance, announced Wednesday that they have
succeeded for the first time in growing heart cells from human embryonic
stem cells, a day after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to ban human
cloning in any form.

And at least two other biotech companies, Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif.
and Biotransplant Inc. of Charlestown, Mass. are hedging their bets by
investing in cloning companies outside the United States.

All this has some biotechnology executives predicting that the United States
can expect a scientific exodus if Congress succeeds in criminalizing
so-called human cloning for medical purposes.

``If this is outlawed in the United States, we will see our best scientific
minds moving overseas,'' said Tom Tureen, an Advanced Cell director.
Advanced Cell is the only U.S. company that has gone public with plans to
clone eggs to make human embryos for use in a variety of therapies.

Tureen spoke a day after the House of Representatives voted to make all
human cloning illegal, even for medical purposes, and punishable by up to $1
million in fines and 10 years in prison. A companion bill awaits action in
the Senate, where Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said he's
``opposed to the effort to clone under virtually any circumstances.''

Advanced Cell, based in Worcester, Mass., plans to create and grow embryos
without sperm, using the same cloning technology that created Dolly the
sheep.

Geron, the commercial leader in embryonic stem cell research, bought the
company that cloned Dolly, Scotland's Roslin Bio-Med, in 1999.
Biotransplant, meanwhile, invested in the Australian company Stem Cells
Sciences, which is doing what the U.S. company Advanced Cell Technology only
hopes to do: clone embryos for their stem cells.

In cloning, scientists remove the nucleus from an egg and replace it with
the nucleus from an adult cell, which contains the DNA of the donor. The egg
is allowed to develop into an embryo. For reproduction, the embryo would be
placed in a woman's womb and carried until birth. For developing medical
treatments, stem cells would be removed, which kills the embryo.

The cloning process involves taking stem cells from four-day-old embryos.
Researchers say these stem cells can be grown into cells capable of
repairing the heart, liver, brain and other vital organs.

Advanced Cell and other companies working in the area believe therapeutic
cloning is key to the success of the medicine of the future, which they say
will revolutionize medical care -- and promote longevity of those who can
afford it -- by regenerating sick tissue.

Because the cells used in treatment originate from the genetic material of
the patient being treated, proponents say therapeutic cloning is the best
way to avoid immune rejection, considered the biggest obstacle to making
regenerative medicine workable. Proponents contend that cloning is the best
way to avoid immune rejection.

Although Advanced Cell has yet to clone a human embryo, it is working hard
to do so and has already collected eggs from paid donors.

``This work will probably go to England,'' where therapeutic cloning is
legal, Tureen said.

One leading stem cell expert, Roger Pedersen of the University of California
at San Francisco, has already left the United States for a post at Cambridge
University in Britain, and UCSF is considering shutting down its research
lab as a result.

Pedersen cited the difficult U.S. political climate as among his reasons for
leaving.

Biotransplant CEO Elliot Lebowitz said that the United States' loss could be
his company's gain, given his Australian connections.

``Because of our relationship with Stem Cell Sciences our position will be
enhanced,'' Lebowitz said. ``The world outside the U.S. does represent a
large market as big as the one here.''

--
Dan S

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