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Home > Archive > Multiple sclerosis support > March 2005 > Hyman OK's Cloning of Cells
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Hyman OK's Cloning of Cells
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| Jim Carter 2005-03-23, 5:35 pm |
| Published on Monday, March 21, 2005
By EVAN H. JACOBS
Crimson Staff Writer
In an attempt to find treatments for diseases like juvenile
diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, university Provost Steven E.
Hyman has approved plans for controversial research that would
clone human cells to create embryonic stem cells.
The research—which was proposed by co-director of the Harvard
Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) and Cabot Professor of the Natural
Sciences Douglas A. Melton and Harvard biologist Kevin C.
Eggan—was quietly approved by Hyman in January.
The approval was not made public until yesterday, when it was
reported by The Boston Globe.
Massachusetts Governor W. Mitt Romney publicly opposed this type
of research this month on ethical grounds and called for
legislation to make it illegal.
Melton and Eggan’s research would harvest eggs from volunteers
and skin cells from people with diseases like juvenile diabetes.
The nuclei of the skin cells would then be inserted into the eggs
to create human embryos carrying the genes for the disease and
stem cells would be drawn from these embryos.
Researchers hope that by observing the development of stem cells
that carry the genes for a specific disease, they will be able to
discover new treatments.
This research would make Harvard the first American university to
clone human cells for research purposes.
Similar research has been done outside of the United States by a
few groups, according to Hyman.
Hyman said yesterday that he decided to approve the project with
the help of a university committee created explicitly to examine
“the ethical boundaries of stem cell research.”
“I studied their recommendation in the context of the body of
ethical literature that has been written on the subject, talked
to the university general counsel, got outside guidance, and then
wrote an approval,” Hyman said.
The project still requires university approval to harvest cells
from human subjects in order to ensure the safety of the human
subjects.
Hyman—who said he does not like to use the term “cloning” in this
case—responded to contentions that the recently-approved research
will destroy human lives.
He said that this work is distinct from reproductive cloning,
which attempts to create human beings from cloned embryos.
Melton and Eggan’s work would only allow embryos to grow for two
weeks, and they would never be put into a human body to develop
further.
Hyman said that even though there are deep moral questions
involved in Melton and Eggan’s proposed research, he felt that it
was important to move forward.
“We have an obligation to do this research in order to give
children and adults with diseases the very best chance of life,”
he said.
However, Romney and others have argued that the destruction of
embryos at any stage is morally wrong, and Romney has called for
a ban on research involving the cloning of human embryos.
A Boston Globe poll of 501 Massachusetts adults conducted at the
beginning of the month found that 66 percent of those polled said
they support stem cell research using human embryos. Twenty-three
percent said they opposed the research and 11 percent said they
were not sure.
However, 46 percent of those polled said they opposed research
using cloned embryos, with only 42 percent supporting such
research. This was a statistical tie, due to the 4.4 percent
margin of error for the poll.
-—Staff writer Evan H. Jacobs can be reached at
ehjacobs@fas.harvard.edu.
--
Spelling and grammatical errors are deliberate
to catch copyright violators. ©¿©¬
Perth, Ontario, Canada
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| Gut-buster 2005-03-23, 5:35 pm |
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"Jim Carter" <spamfree@sentex.ca> wrote in message
news:m9eu315gum2fpef5j0pspequicea22ecul@4ax.com...
You know, not knowing that surname, I overlooked the obvious spelling
difference and thought to myself "Where ELSE in the world are they going to
say they can get stem cells from?" then realised that it was likely to be a
person's name!
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| Looks like it's time to get rid of "Mitt Romney". I'm tired of these damned Republicans trying to ram their religious beliefs down our throats while keeping us in wheelchairs and themselves in the favor of big business making millions from the drug companies that produce drugs that don't work.
Pappy
"Jim Carter" <spamfree@sentex.ca> wrote in message news:m9eu315gum2fpef5j0pspequicea22ecul@4ax.com...
Published on Monday, March 21, 2005
Massachusetts Governor W. Mitt Romney publicly opposed this type
of research this month on ethical grounds and called for
legislation to make it illegal.
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| Rob Duncan 2005-03-23, 5:35 pm |
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"Pappy" <pappysnewsandstormdoorcompany@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:zlK%d.15325$qN3.11454@trndny01...
Looks like it's time to get rid of "Mitt Romney". I'm tired of these damned
Republicans trying to ram their religious beliefs down our throats while
keeping us in wheelchairs and themselves in the favor of big business making
millions from the drug companies that produce drugs that don't work.
Pappy
What religious beliefs? I wasnt aware recognizing a human being as a human
being, once the person has began growing, was a religious belief.
Rob
"Jim Carter" <spamfree@sentex.ca> wrote in message
news:m9eu315gum2fpef5j0pspequicea22ecul@4ax.com...
Published on Monday, March 21, 2005
Massachusetts Governor W. Mitt Romney publicly opposed this type
of research this month on ethical grounds and called for
legislation to make it illegal.
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| Michael 2005-03-23, 5:35 pm |
| Rob Duncan wrote:
> "Pappy" <pappysnewsandstormdoorcompany@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:zlK%d.15325$qN3.11454@trndny01...
> Looks like it's time to get rid of "Mitt Romney". I'm tired of these
> damned Republicans trying to ram their religious beliefs down our
> throats while keeping us in wheelchairs and themselves in the favor
> of big business making millions from the drug companies that produce
> drugs that don't work.
> Pappy
>
> What religious beliefs? I wasnt aware recognizing a human being as a
> human being, once the person has began growing, was a religious
> belief.
> Rob
As I recall the names of the vast majority of the (numerous, and ultimately
perfidious) organizations and individuals who've constituted the forefront
of the "blastocysts are people" argument, I honestly can't think of the
single reason to recognize this as anything *but* a religious belief.
((U))
M
> "Jim Carter" <spamfree@sentex.ca> wrote in message
> news:m9eu315gum2fpef5j0pspequicea22ecul@4ax.com...
> Published on Monday, March 21, 2005
>
>
>
> Massachusetts Governor W. Mitt Romney publicly opposed this type
> of research this month on ethical grounds and called for
> legislation to make it illegal.
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| Rob Duncan 2005-03-23, 5:35 pm |
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"Michael" <just@forget.it> wrote in message
news:ZImdnYg7lO3QAaLfRVn-ig@qcislands.net...
> Rob Duncan wrote:
>
>
> As I recall the names of the vast majority of the (numerous, and
> ultimately perfidious) organizations and individuals who've constituted
> the forefront of the "blastocysts are people" argument, I honestly can't
> think of the single reason to recognize this as anything *but* a religious
> belief.
>
> ((U))
> M
Yeah. I cant say I understand that reasoning. Religious people dont feel a
fertilised human embryo is alive because its religious doctrine. They
protest against what they feel is the murder of a human embryo, or fetus,
*because* they are religious, and their religion demands of them to do the
right thing. To some, killing a potential human being is wrong. So they
protest.
That...
....has nothing to do with WHY people feel its a human being. Their own
intelect leads them to that conclusion. Go to a Nazarene church. Some feel
its okay, some dont. Not based on religion. But religion does demand of
those who feel its murder, to do something. Does that clear it up for you?
Whether one feels its okay to kill a living human fetus, or not, has nothing
to do with religion. But religion does demand a person who feels its wrong,
to protest.
Im not religious, but I feel people who have late-term abortions when their
life isnt at stake should be killed. I also could care less about a glop or
early term cells. I also feel its immoral to create living human embryo's
through cloning, simply to experiment on them. The lives of the living are
far less important than the moral degredation required to do such a thing.
Pretty soon we will be cloning ourselves, aborting at 8 1/2 months, and
sucking out the brains of a dead baby to get at some healthy
olicodendrocytes to repair our damages axons. If not in the USA, somewhere.
People need to realize, if it can be done, it will be. And that can and
WILL be done. Fact. And not just for our disease. We already have parents
having children so they can harvest their bone marrow to save the life of
another child with cancer. If it can be done, it WILL be. Not neccesarrily
legally, but it will be done by those rich and immoral enough to do it.
Rob
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