Blair Looks to Bridge Stem Cell Research Between UK, California

WASHINGTON, USA – British Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking to promote greater communication between stem cell researchers in Britain and California this week during his stay in San Francisco.

|PIC1|The U.K. leader met with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to discuss closer collaboration between British scientists and U.S. biotechnology, including global warming and stem cell research.

The move by Blair bypasses the Bush administration which has been criticised over its lack of positive action in the fight against global warming and Bush’s opposition to embryonic stem cell research.

Embryonic stem cell research has been controversial issue and opposed by many Christians and pro-life groups because the process of extracting stem cells necessarily results in the death of embryos, which some liken to abortion.

Furthermore, controversies over the real clinical benefits of embryonic stem cell research and how close scientists are to a breakthrough cause some to resist endorsing the research.

Professor Colin McGuckin, a specialist in regenerative medicine at the UK’s Newcastle University, said the likelihood of forthcoming treatments for illnesses affecting the nervous system such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease has been exaggerated.

|TOP|However, he said stem cell therapies for degenerative disorders affecting major organs such as the heart and liver could be available in 10 years, according to CNN.

“What we’re going to see is one or two patients being helped in some way and people are going to hail it as the end of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s,” said McGuckin in a CNN report on Tuesday.

“But it’s going to be a slow process. We hear an awful lot of hype about that stem cells can do but in reality there’s till a lot of work to do.”

Others have also acknowledged that treatments and cures based off of embryonic stem cell research will take longer than some proponents claim.

|AD|“This is a very, very young field,” Dr. Stephen Minger, director of the Stem Cell Biology Laboratory at King’s College in London, told CNN.

“Most people in the world have only been working with these cells fro two to three year. Prior to 2002 if you wanted to do human embryonic stem cell research it was almost impossible to gain access to cells. We don’t want to create false expectations that these therapies are just around the corner.”

Bush last month cast his first veto in five and a half years to block the legislation expanding federally funded embryonic stem cell research.

"This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others," Bush said, according to The Associated Press. "It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect."

The California governor differs from President Bush by supporting embryonic stem cell research as does Britain, which has strongly encouraged stem cell research and set up the world’s first stem cell bank in 2004 to store and supply cells for research.

California, seen as a strategic biotechnology partner according to officials with Blair, voted in 2004 for the creation of the California Institute for Regenerative Research. The institute was created by the state’s Proposition 71 which permits the state to issue up to $3 billion in grants over a span of 10 years for stem cell research including embryonic and other biomedical research.





Michelle Vu
Christian Today Correspondent