The Record - 
The U.S. House of Representatives walked into an ethical minefield Jan. 11 when it passed legislation to expand federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. It was a step the House did not have to take to advance stem-cell research used in the treatment of diseases.

There is another type research that does not use human embryos to obtain stem cells and does not involve ethical concerns. This is the area of what is called adult stem-cell research, which already has been successful in the treatment of a variety of diseases and offers even greater hopes in the future.

For example, just a few days before the House approved the Stem-Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 (H.R. 3), scientists at Wake Forest and Harvard universities announced a major breakthrough in adult stem-cell research. They have found that the amniotic fluid surrounding the child in the womb is a source of medically useful stem cells.

Dr. Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine said he and his colleagues have used stem cells derived from amniotic fluid to create muscle, bone, fat, blood, nerve and liver cells in the laboratory. The report, published in Nature Biotechnology, said these cells were harvested from backup amniotic fluid specimens obtained from amniocentesis. Similar stem cells were obtained from the placenta and other membranes that are expelled after a childbirth.

“These cells are capable of extensive self-renewal, a defining property of stem cells,” Atala said. “They also can be used to produce a broad range of cells that may be valuable for therapy.”

This discovery points to the fact that there are alternatives in the field of stem-cell research to the use of human embryos. This fact was underscored by Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali in a Jan. 9 letter to House members urging them not to pass the embryonic stem-cell bill.

“Ethically sound research using nonembryonic stem cells has continued to advance, helping patients with (more than) 70 conditions in early peer-review studies,” Cardinal Rigali wrote. Also, he noted that since Congress debated the issue last summer, “further evidence has emerged on the versatility of adult stem cells and on the likelihood that they can be reprogrammed to enhance this quality.”

On the other hand, he said, embryonic stem-cell research “has been as disappointing in it results as its has been divisive to our society.” He said that after “three decades of research in mouse embryonic stem cells and nine years in the human variety, researchers can scarcely point to a safe and effective ‘cure’ for any conditions” using embryonic stem cells.

The “divisive” element he points to has to do with the moral concerns of human embryonic stem-cell research. When stem cells are obtained from a human embryo, the embryo is destroyed.

Pope Benedict XVI explained the Catholic Church’s opposition to embryonic stem-cell research last year when he said the destruction of human embryos to harvest stem cells is “not only devoid of the light of God but is also devoid of humanity” and “does not truly serve humanity.” There “can be no compromise,” he said, when it comes to the direct destruction of human life, even when this life is a freshly conceived embryo.

On the other hand, the pope said, adult stem-cell research “deserves endorsement and encouragement.”

The mounting scientific evidence should be reason enough that adult stem-cell research should be encouraged by the expenditure of government funds. Some federal funding has been given to this research, but more is needed to take full advantage of what this research has already accomplished and the even greater promises it holds for treatment of diseases.

Dr. Peter Hollands, a pioneer researcher in the United Kingdom, said recently that stem cells obtained from umbilical cord blood alone have been transplanted more than 6,000 times worldwide in the treatment of 45 different diseases. And cord blood is jut one of a number of sources of adult stem cells.

Do No Harm, a coalition for research ethics, lists on its Web site (www.stemcellresearch.org) the successes of adult stem-cell research in treatment of such things as diabetes, heart conditions, Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injury. This is one source members of the U.S. Senate should consult when taking up the stem-cell issue. There is a viable alternative to the legislation passed by the House.