Stem cells: Misconceptions about initiative need to be cleared up

By Dr. Michael Wulfers

In November. Missourians will be asked to approve a constitutional amendment called the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. The purpose of this measure, promoted by a group called the Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, is to ensure that human embryonic stem-cell experimentation and research cloning will remain legal in Missouri. Unfortunately, the coalition has promulgated a number of misconceptions about the initiative.

Coalition assertion: The initiative "includes a strict ban on human cloning."

The real truth: The initiative redefines cloning as the implantation of an embryo into the uterus. Somatic cell nuclear transfer, the procedure protected from regulation by the amendment, involves taking the nucleus from a human egg and replacing it with a somatic (adult cell) nucleus. This transformed cell is then stimulated to replicate into a cloned human embryo from which stem cells are extracted. SCNT, acknowledged as a synonym for cloning by most of the scientific community, is the same procedure used to produce Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal.

Coalition assertion: Without embryonic stem-cell research, medical science will be unable to find new cures.

The real truth: Opponents of the initiative are just as committed to finding cures for human maladies as are the proponents. However, we favor ethical experimentation using adult stem cells obtained from bone marrow, umbilical cord and placental tissue. Adult stem cells are already being used in the treatment of 65 disorders. In contrast, embryonic stem cells have yet to be used for the treatment of any disease. Sadly, supporters of the initiative are creating unrealistic expectations in order to promote their agenda. For example, well-intentioned but misinformed enthusiasts such as Nancy Reagan would have us believe that stem-cell treatments for Alzheimer's disease are just around the corner. Actually, most stem-cell researchers believe that the complex architecture of the brain makes it unlikely that Alzheimer's disease will be amenable to stem-cell therapies.

Coalition assertion: The initiative contains safeguards protecting women from exploitation by unscrupulous researchers.

The real truth: Loopholes in the language of the amendment will allow the aggressive collection of the thousands of human eggs which will be needed. The initiative states, "No person may, for valuable consideration, purchase or sell human blastocysts or eggs for stem-cell research or stem cell therapies and cures." However, in Section 6 of the amendment we find, "Valuable consideration also does not include the consideration paid to a donor of human eggs or sperm by a fertilization clinic or sperm bank, as well as any consideration expressly allowed by federal law." This language, in effect, allows in vitro fertilization clinics to act as the middleman, paying financially compromised young women for their eggs, and then channeling them on to the researchers.

Few women who volunteer their eggs realize the potential grave risks to their own health. Egg harvesting involves hyperstimulating the ovaries with hormones (FSH and HCG) to induce the production of multiple eggs. Up to 6 percent of the time moderate to severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome occurs. In OHSS, cysts -- sometimes exceeding 6 inches in diameter -- develop, weight increases and fluid shifts out of the blood vessels, sometimes resulting in blood clots, liver damage, kidney failure, stroke and death, or, if the patient survives, permanent infertility.

Unfortunately, when public outcry demands that something be done about this exploitation of women, the state legislature's hands will be tied because of the restrictions which the amendment places on the legislature's ability to withhold funds and/or regulate the operation of embryonic stem-cell research facilities.

Coalition assertion: If we don't pass the initiative Missouri will fall behind in the medical biotechnology field.

The real truth: Private biotech and venture capital firms across the country have not been rushing to invest in embryonic stem-cell research. Six states, including Michigan, have banned human cloning. Yet, Michigan's biotech industry is booming with the growth of its life sciences industries exceeding the U.S. average. Twenty-seven countries, including secular democracies such as Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway and Denmark, have banned human cloning.

Coalition assertion: The initiative does not require any public funding.

The real truth: Section 5 of the amendment prohibits state and local governments from withholding public funds from any institutions engaged in embryonic stem-cell research. For example, if the state provided money to the University of Missouri for any type of human biological research, the legislature could not prevent the university from using these tax dollars for human cloning.

Coalition assertion: Conservative religious groups are trying to force their beliefs on us.

The real truth: You don't have to belong to an organized religion to be concerned about the grave ethical dangers inherent in human embryonic stem-cell research. The founders of our nation used natural law arguments to declare "these Truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed É with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." It is not by chance that life is mentioned first, since without life the other rights are meaningless.

When does life begin? The authors of the initiative apparently believe they have special knowledge which allows them to precisely make this determination. Section 2(3) of the initiative says no stem cells may be taken from a human blastocyst more than 14 days after cell division begins. Why not 28 days? Or 28 weeks? Why not just take them from unwanted newborn infants? When the sperm penetrates the egg in the fallopian tube, the fertilized ovum contains all the necessary genetic material to self direct the growth and development of a unique human individual. Establishing the time when life begins as anytime other than the moment of conception is entirely arbitrary.

Dr. Michael Wulfers practices family medicine in Cape Girardeau.