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To: cgraham who wrote (84875)	7/16/1999 11:58:00 AM
From: taffard	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 119973

good news for GERN and ASTM Thursday July 15, 9:06 pm Eastern Time U.S. report due soon on embryonic stem cells By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - A panel advising U.S. President Bill Clinton on biotechnology ethics said on Thursday it was poised to submit a report on the controversial use of human embryonic stem cells. Taken from very early embryos left over from test-tube fertilization techniques, these cells are valued by some scientists who think they might be used to make tissue transplants to treat disease and to test drugs. But opponents say the embryos are human beings and should not be destroyed or damaged, even for the most promising medical research. The National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC), composed of scientists, lawyers, patient advocates, ethicists and others, said it would submit its report on the issue to Clinton ''very shortly.'' According to the head of the commission, Princeton University President Harold Shapiro, it is likely to recommend loosening laws that restricts using human embryos in research. For its part, the White House said such a step would be unnecessary. A four-year-old law forbids the use of federal funds for research that causes the destruction of human embryos. The Health and Human Services Department and Dr. Harold Varmus, head of the National Institutes of Health, said they think there are ways around the law. Varmus has said that so long as federally funded researchers get the cells from private sources, it is legal to work with them. The White House agrees. ''The president's 1994 ban on the use of federal funds for the creation of human embryos for research purposes will remain in effect. No other legal actions are necessary at this time, because it appears that human embryonic stem cells will be available from the private sector,'' it said in a statement. White House spokesman Barry Toiv indicated that Clinton would not press to change current law. ''We very much agree with the Commission that stem cell research is necessary,'' Toiv said in a statement. ''But we believe that it is not necessary at this time to urge a change in the law in order to provide sufficient stem cells...Publicly funded research using these cells is permissible under the current congressional ban on human embryo research.'' There are other sources of stem cells, such as aborted or miscarried fetuses, and even the blood, brains and other tissue of adults. But experts say it is not yet clear whether these stem cells are as potent as the embryonic stem cells. One private company, Geron (Nasdaq:GERN - news), has funded much of the embryonic stem cells research and is exploring the possibility of creating human embryos for the express purpose of obtaining the cells.