Blog & News

Newsweek, By Claudia Kalb

Kim Barnett would do anything to help her dad. Already, she’s changed careers. That move came after Barnett noticed her father, who has Parkinson’s, drooling on an airplane in 2001. The disease had hijacked his instinct to swallow—and it devastated Barnett, who worried that outsiders would notice only the symptom, not the smart, funny man she loved. Within two years Barnett had given up her job as an educational consultant to head up the Parkinson Association of the Rockies. Today she says she’d do something far more personal to battle the disease: she’d donate her own biological eggs to stem-cell research. “It’s important to keep the advances going,” says Barnett, 35. “I’m a blood donor and an organ donor. I don’t see donating eggs as anything different.”

For months, politicians have been battling over the ethics of using embryos stored in fertility clinics for stem-cell research. But scientists aren’t setting their sights on embryos alone—they want eggs, too. The purpose: somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a complex technique that merges eggs (whose nuclei have been removed) with adult cells to create specialized embryonic-stem-cell lines. Last month South Korean researchers announced they’d nailed SCNT, also known as therapeutic cloning, with the help of 18 egg donors; now U.S. scientists want to get going, too. They believe SCNT will allow them to study the origins of disease, hunt for cures and create genetically matched repair cells for patients. Soon, women like Barnett could become biological pioneers in the next frontier of stem-cell science.

This landmark letter was signed by 126 stem cell scientists at the International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting in San Francisco. (Download PDF)

Dear Senator Hatch,

We are a group of U.S. and international scientists who thank you for your leadership in supporting stem cell research. Stem Cell therapy holds the promise of cures for diseases which afflict up to half of all Americans: spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, heart failure and diabetes, to name a few. What is new is the ability to produce billions of pluripotent stem cells in the laboratory, and direct them to replace damaged cells in tissues that do not have their own supply, such as the spinal cord, the brain and the heart.

From WBUR, by Martha Bebinger – March 31, 2005

In the debate about stem cell legislation, there’s been little discussion about the potential new demand for human eggs, and the impact on the women who donate those eggs.

Some women’s health advocates are calling for limits, arguing that the safety of producing multiple eggs can’t be assured. Many doctors disagree and say women have much to gain about this new medical frontier.

Listen to the report:

WBUR Radio

BOSTON (2005-03-31) In the debate on stem cell legislation, there’s been little discussion about the impact on the women who donate eggs for research. Some women’s health advocate argue that the safety of producing multiple eggs can’t be assured. But many doctors say women have much to gain on this new medical frontier.

The Exchange on New Hampshire Public Radio, Laura Knoy

October 13, 2004: The science and politics of embryonic stem cell research. A complex, biological, ethical and medical issue has now become political. We’ll find out what’s being said. And, behind all the rhetoric, how much promise this research may – or may not – hold.

Laura’s guests are Ann Kiessling, Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation and Eric Cohen, Consultant to the President’s Council on Bioethics, Editor of The New Atlantis and Director of the Biotechnology and American Democracy Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington.

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Should the U.S. government support the creation of new lines of embryonic stem cells?

The answer to that question is not simple. The rancorous US debate about embryonic stem cells bespeaks a healthy society with genuine concern about each and every member, the tiniest and the sickest. Everyone, on both sides of the debate, wants to do what’s right.

But what is “right?”

Should frozen embryos “left-over” in fertility clinics be “sacrificed” to create stem cells to treat heart failure, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries, and birth defects?

The answer is not necessarily.

Embryonic stem cells from “left-over” frozen embryos are just one example of pluripotent stem cells (pluripotent: the potential to develop into all body tissues). Embryonic stem cells have been important model systems for research, but they will have the same tissue compatibility problems as other transplanted organs.

Should the U.S. government support the creation of new lines of embryonic stem cells?

The answer to that question is not simple. The rancorous US debate about embryonic stem cells bespeaks a healthy society with genuine concern about each and every member, the tiniest and the sickest. Everyone, on both sides of the debate, wants to do what’s right.

But what is “right?”

Should frozen embryos “left-over” in fertility clinics be “sacrificed” to create stem cells to treat heart failure, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries, and birth defects?

The answer is not necessarily.

Embryonic stem cells from “left-over” frozen embryos are just one example of pluripotent stem cells (pluripotent: the potential to develop into all body tissues). Embryonic stem cells have been important model systems for research, but they will have the same tissue compatibility problems as other transplanted organs.

Dads Against Diabetes T.V. Telethon 2005 Dads Against Diabetes is in the planning stage the first annual “telethon” for Children with Type I Juvenile Diabetes to be held in Houston, Texas, exclusively for Stem Cell Research. We are planning to bring together local T.V. hosts, top entertainers, corporate sponsors and volunteers to make this a successful event. Researchers will be filmed discussing the latest information on their research. We plan to do the event in 2005. We need to raise approximately $2.5mm for recruitment of researchers. We will be mailing the telethon information and our “Tips and Tops Program” to our database of adults and children with Type I juvenile diabetes, asking them to keep sending in their “Tips and Tops” to Houston on a monthly basis for recycling that we turn into cash. We also plan on filming children with Type I juvenile diabetics pouring their Tips and Tops into large barrels during the telethon for recycling. Individual and corporate will be solicited. We would like to know if any might be interested in somehow helping with the telethon?

LA Times, By Peter Wallsten and James Rainey, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — The sleeper issue of stem cell research leapt into the center of the presidential race Monday as Sen. John F. Kerry’s campaign attacked President Bush with renewed vigor for limiting the scope of the work and the White House launched a multifront drive to show that the president supported using the science to find cures for debilitating diseases.

The Bush administration, stung by evidence that many voters favored less restrictive policies, said the president’s fundamental position had not changed. But it sought to recast Bush’s image on the highly charged issue by portraying him as a champion of stem cell research, as well as of moral limits on scientific inquiry.