‘PR campaign’ on embryos

Sydney
4 November 2001

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‘PR campaign’ on embryos

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‘PR campaign’ on embryos

By Chris Hook

Sick people are becoming the instruments of a public relations campaign by scientists who want to experiment on embryos, says Dr Amin Aboud.

Dr Aboud, founder of the Australasian Bioethics Institute, was debating Professor Bernie Tuch, a researcher in embryonic stem cells, during a lunchtime debate – “that we should send in the clones” – hosted at Sydney University by the Society of St Peter, a Catholic student group.

Prof Tuch, who has begun research into juvenile diabetes with embryos from Sydney IVF, described the problem of a woman with type 1 diabetes which required her to inject insulin four times a day to survive.

But after suffering a stroke she was subject to regular fits, followed by short periods of unconsciousness as her blood sugar level increased, further reducing her quality of life. What if the insulin producing cells of her pancreas could be replaced? “If cells were available, that could be made, should we be allowed to transfer cells into her so she can avoid fits?” Prof Tuch asked.

Dr Aboud said the task required cloning an embryo by taking cells from the patient’s body, adding them to an unfertilised egg and creating

an embryo from which to harvest stem cells. [Stem cells can be cultured into the cells needed by the patient.]

Diabetics and Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s sufferers were being used in a PR campaign by scientists wanting to experiment with embryos instead of obtaining the patient’s own stem cells.

“We don’t need to make embryos. We don’t have to make people to destroy them. We have the answers with no ethical problems,” he said.