|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Australia OKs embryo stem cell research
By Grant Holloway
CANBERRA, Australia (CNN) -- Australia's parliament has finally passed a bill allowing stem cell scientists to use human embryos for research. The parliament's upper house, the Senate, voted Thursday to permit up to 70,000 frozen embryos already created for test-tube baby programs to be harvested for stem cells. Unlike in the United Kingdom, however, scientists are not permitted to create new embryos for research purposes. All work related to human cloning has also been banned. Some Australian research institutes are at the forefront of international stem-cell technology and the decision will be a welcome boost for the nation's bio-technology industry. The stem cell bill was debated in the Senate for more than 50 hours and members were allowed a conscience vote on the issue. The final vote was 45 for the bill and 26 against. Australia's House of Representatives approved the bill after a similar lengthy debate and conscience vote earlier in the year. Advances in stem-cell technology have been hailed as holding potential cures for a multitude of crippling and incurable diseases, such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Stem cells can be manipulated by scientists to develop into many other human cells. While they can be found in adults, those found in embryos are far more prevalent and more easily manipulated into specialized cells which could then be used to create cures or even grow replacement organs. But opponents say using embryos, even ones just several minutes old, is destroying a human life. The Catholic Church maintains that from the moment a human sperm fertilizes an ovum a human life exists and it has fiercely opposed the new legislation. Skills baseThe parliament's decision is welcome news for the southern Australian city of Melbourne which is home to a $25 million Center for Stem Cells and Tissue Repair. The center, which is expected to open next year, hopes to build on this skill base and boost the city's bid to become a key player in the future development of stem cell technology. The center will be headed by Professor Alan Trounson from Melbourne's Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development. Trounson and the institute developed one of the world's first stem cells and he holds high hopes the center will further enhance Australia's credentials as one of the world's "hotspots" for this science. "I think we are bringing expertise in from all over the world at the present time ... to join us in one of these hotspots in current science," Trounson told CNN earlier this year.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
