Newswise — The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), with 11,000 scientist members working in basic biomedical research in the United States and 50 countries around the world, opposes any action by the United Nations that would prohibit valuable stem cell research with the potential to understand and treat disease. The ASCB remains supportive of the resolution introduced in the U.N. in 2003 that would ban reproductive cloning but allow stem cell research to continue.
Since 1997, the American Society for Cell Biology has opposed human reproductive cloning. Despite sometimes politically motivated claims, current peer-reviewed scientific research suggests that technology now available cannot result in the creation through cloning of an embryo capable of being born as a healthy human.
"As the United Nations once again considers efforts to institute a world-wide ban on reproductive cloning, we urge that it carefully avoid precluding or compromising invaluable basic cell biology research with the potential to yield novel therapies and cures for a wide range of diseases," said Dr. Larry Goldstein, Chair of the ASCB Public Policy Committee.
There is substantial scientific evidence that somatic cell nuclear transfer, sometimes called therapeutic cloning, could play a significant role in the fight against some of the most debilitating illnesses known to humankind. Stem cell lines, produced by using the patient's own genetic material to generate patient-specific stem cells, may offer the potential for therapies for diseases including diabetes, AIDS, cancer, heart disease, spinal cord injury, and Parkinson's disease, while avoiding the complication of rejection.
"Somatic cell nuclear transfer would also allow entirely new approaches to the study of how a single cell is transformed into trillions of different cells and tissues and how these cells fail in disease. By generating embryonic stem cells with defined mutations, scientists would be able to gain a new approach to understanding how inherited predispositions lead to serious disease," Goldstein said.
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