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STEMCELLS-ILLINOIS Dec-17-2007 (690 words) xxxn
Catholics move to end Illinois funds for embryonic stem-cell research
By Mark Indreika
Catholic News Service
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (CNS) -- In light of new scientific evidence demonstrating how primitive stem cells can be created without destroying human embryos, the Catholic Conference of Illinois is pushing for new legislation to end state-sanctioned funding of embryonic stem-cell research through the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute.
"Human embryos should not be used in any type of research, and that should be in the law," said Zach Wichmann, associate director of education for the conference, the public policy arm for the state's Catholic bishops.
In addition to being immoral, he said, there is no scientific reason to continue using embryos.
"We think now that science has progressed to a point where it seems that embryonic stem-cell research is no longer necessary -- that we can ban that procedure," Wichmann told the Catholic Explorer, Joliet diocesan newspaper, in a telephone interview from his Springfield office.
Recently two research studies independently confirmed that ordinary skin cells can be genetically reprogrammed to work as effectively as embryonic stem cells. Wichmann said the new research poses no moral conflict since human embryos are not needed.
Dr. Patrick Stiff, director of Loyola's Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center in Maywood, said genetically manipulating a patient's own skin cells to regenerate new tissues eliminates any chance of rejection or the need for powerful anti-rejection drugs.
Speaking with the Explorer on the telephone, he said, "It's the ideal way of getting enough cells for anybody." Stiff, a parishioner at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Naperville, has done extensive work using adult stem cells from umbilical-cord blood to successfully treat cancer.
Since 2003 the Illinois conference has battled to prevent Illinois from funding research using human embryos.
Two years ago, without the approval of the Illinois General Assembly, Gov. Rod Blagojevich used an executive order to create and fund the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute. The institute provides grants for adult and embryonic stem-cell research along with research on therapeutic human cloning which seeks to replicate embryonic stem-cell lines. This year, however, the General Assembly voted to approve the institute.
The Catholic conference has started gathering support for legislation preventing the institute from supporting research that destroys or clones human embryos. However, Wichmann stressed that the conference does not oppose the institute's funding of adult stem-cell research.
According to a statement issued by the Loyola University Medical Center, Stiff received $1.4 million from the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute in 2006 to investigate ways of growing "both blood stem cells and immune cells from cord-blood stem cells outside the body."
Wichmann said he expects resistance to the proposed legislation. "It's not something that is going to happen overnight. It's going to take time and a lot of discussion and a lot of work, no doubt."
Stiff disputed an assertion by Richard Murphy, interim president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, that research involving human embryos will be needed to test the safety of the reprogrammed cells. Murphy said human embryonic stem cells remain the "gold standard" because of their pluripotency, their capacity to become any type of human cell.
Stiff said, however, that embryonic stem cells lose their pluripotency once they have been manipulated in the laboratory.
"The gold standard is the normal cells in our bodies that we're comparing the (reprogrammed) cells to," said the professor of medicine and pathology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
"I'm not sure that I understand why they feel a compelling need to continue the embryonic stem-cell work. Using this as a rationale doesn't make sense to me," Stiff said.
Dr. Leonard Rybak, professor of surgery at Southern Illinois University, agreed. In a telephone interview with the Explorer, he said, "When you really look at what's been successful, it's been all adult stem-cell research, and embryonic stem-cell research hasn't produced much of anything."
Rybak, an ear, nose and throat specialist, has done preliminary research on using stem cells to treat hearing loss. Both Rybak and Stiff agree that although the new research shows great promise it will take years of work before the reprogrammed cells can be used safely and effectively.
END
Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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