Posted December 2, 2007
Stem cell discovery unlikely to end culture war
Wausau Daily Herald
rmentzer@wdhprint.
The recent discovery of a new way of producing stem cells that doesn't involve the use of embryos is the kind of breakthrough that could change the nature of the debate over stem cell research. But the two sides of the political debate are firmly entrenched, and resolution between them may not follow scientific progress. "It certainly changes the landscape," said Mark Brown, a philosophy professor at the University of Wisconsin Marathon County who has studied the bioethics of stem cells extensively. "Everybody in the field is rethinking the implications of their view. ... I think there probably will be a consensus that if the science holds up, this is a line of research which we all can agree on." Two labs, one at Kyoto University and the other at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have discovered a method for turning skin cells into "somatic" cells with the same characteristics as embryonic stem cells. Stem cells hold potential for treating a wide range of maladies because they can be coaxed to grow into any type of cell, offering hope that damaged brain or other organ cells can be regrown. Brown believes the discoveries could "cool the political heat" somewhat, and for this reason doubts that the issue will be as important in the 2008 presidential election as it was in 2004. And some people who have followed the issue agree. "The fact now is that the dispute over using embryonic cells, that dispute is kind of over," said Ron Putzer, 63, of Wausau, who opposes embryonic stem cell research. "If (the new technique) does what they can do by taking stem cells from an embryo, it's going to make both sides happy." While anti-abortion groups like Wisconsin Right to Life and advocates of embryonic stem cell research both expressed cautious optimism at the breakthrough, few shared Putzer's sense that it would put the issue to rest. "(This breakthrough) begins to separate regenerative medicine from the heart of the abortion debate, which is good," said R. Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has advocated the use of embryonic stem cells for medical research. "But we still do have an ongoing need to work with embryonic stem cell lines." Charo called the discovery, arrived at independently by scientists at Kyoto University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, "the Holy Grail" of stem cell science. She said she has never been an advocate of embryonic stem cell research per se. Rather, she said, she is "an advocate for making sure research into regenerative medicine was not hampered by making embryo research a proxy for the abortion wars." In this sense, defenders of embryonic stem cell research will be happy to see resources allotted to making sure the new method will be as effective for research as embryonic stem cells were. But in many respects, the political sides of the abortion wars are not budging. Anti-abortion groups are heavily invested in promoting adult stem cell research, and many anti-abortion activists are hesitant to embrace the new method of generating stem cells. "If it is at the expense of adult stem cell research, I'd be a little cautious," said Dorothy Giallombardo, 56, of Merrill, an opponent of embryonic stem cell research. Like other opponents, Giallombardo points out that adult stem cells are used in treatments now, while treatments derived from embryonic, or now somatic, stem cells haven't yet been developed. "The question that always comes to mind is why is all this money being poured into an area that is so experimental? For two reasons, said Brown. The first is that adult stem cells are scarce and that they present technical difficulties in a laboratory setting. The second is that there appear to be limitations about what adult stem cells can become. "They turn into, principally, blood, and that's mainly what the applications are, to certain sorts of blood disorders," Brown said. "Which is important, but it isn't much help to somebody who's got heart disease or Parkinson's. Charo said she has "no doubt that we will find something else next week to fight about that will actually, underneath it, represent the abortion battle. I'm quite sure that by next week we'll find another proxy war."
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