The Bio 200 Times
~News Flash: April 29, 2003.
South Hadley. Bioethics Panel to visit introductory biology class
at Mount Holyoke College. Introductory
students in Bio 200 will have the opportunity to interact with 9 prominent
experts* in the field of human cloning and stem cell research. Many of them serve on President Bush’s
Council on Bioethics, and others include a United States Senator and the first
scientist to announce the creation of a human clone. The debate will begin at 10:00 a.m. in Hooker Auditorium. Speakers
(in this order) will be:
Leon
Kass: Professor of Social Thought, University of Chicago;
Chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics; and Fellow at the American
Enterprise Institute. Ethicist.
James
Wilson: Professor of Management and Public Policy, UCLA. Member of President’s Council. Political Scientist.
Elizabeth
Blackburn: Professor of Cell Biology, UCSF. Member of President’s Council. Expert on telomeres and telomerase.
Charles
Krauthammer: Syndicated columnist, The Washington
Post. Psychiatrist. Member of President’s Council.
Michael
Gazzaniga: Professor of Neurobiology, Dartmouth
College. Member of President’s Council.
Brigitte
Boisselier: President and Chief Scientific Officer,
CLONAID. Has announced the creation of
the first successful human clones.
Paul
McHugh: Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins Medical
School. Member of President’s Council.
Sam
Brownback: U.S. Senator, Kansas (Rep.) Sponsor of Senate Resolution 245, The Human
Cloning Prohibition Act of 2003.
Gregory
Pence: Professor of Philosophy, University of Alabama. Has published a book called “Who’s Afraid of
Human Cloning?”
* Experts will be
portrayed by members of MHC Bio 321 Cloning Seminar class, who have spent the
entire semester learning about these prominent national figures.
In order for you to get the most out of the debate, the
student presenters have asked that you think about these issues tonight, and
come with questions about the cloning debate.
These can be scientific, ethical, legal, or political questions, and the
panelists hope that you will bring up topics you have read about in the
newspapers or heard on tv.
~~~Recent headlines~~~
4/8/03 The Boston Globe: Cloned oxen give hope
to conservationists: Two calves from endangered species born on Iowa farm
4/10/03 National Public Radio: Cloning primates
proves to be a seemingly impossible task
4/17/03 The New York Times: Stem Cells May
Repair Damage from Multiple Sclerosis
4/22/03 The
Washington Post: Stem Cell Strides Test Bush Policy;
Scientists Push for Use Of Newer Cell Colonies
4/21/03 The Times (London): Clones surprise
scientists by being different
4/23/03 The
Vancouver Sun: Baby teeth contain stem cells: Researchers find tots’ tooth
cells might be used instead of cells from embryos
Biological Background:
One
source of confusion in the national debate is the way different terms are
defined. To be clear, the following
definitions are presented:
In
mammalian development, the early embryo forms a blastocyst, consisting
of an outer cell layer (the trophoblast) and an inner cell mass (ICM).
It is the cells of the ICM that will form all of the tissues of the resulting
individual. Isolated ICM cells are
called embryonic stem cells because they are unspecialized, can be grown
in culture, and can differentiate into a wide variety of cell types
(pluripotent).
Somatic
cell nuclear transfer: this is the technical term for what is
commonly known as cloning. In this
process the nucleus from a single body cell (skin, liver, etc.) is put into an
egg whose own nucleus has been removed.
The inserted nucleus is reprogrammed to direct the entire repertoire of
development, and an organism is formed who has the genetic identity of the
nucleus donor. Reproductive cloning:
The use of somatic cell nuclear transfer to create an embryo to be implanted
into a uterus, with the express desire of creating a new organism. Therapeutic or research cloning: The
use of somatic cell nuclear transfer to create a blastocyst from which embryonic
stem cells will be isolated. These
stem cells will have the genetic identity of the nucleus donor. The field of regenerative medicine is
based on the possibility of using such cells to repair damaged/diseased
tissues. The therapeutic cloning
part comes in to avoid immune rejection of the new stem-cell derived tissues
when given to a patient.
Many
tissues have recently been shown to have populations of cells that are
relatively unspecialized, and that can differentiate into other cell
types. These are called adult stem
cells, and the most well-studied are the hematopoietic stem cells from bone
marrow, used to treat certain types of leukemias.
Two excellent books from the National Academies of
Science Press are available free online:
Scientific & Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive
Cloning (2002): www.nap.edu/books/0309076374/html/
Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine (2002):
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10195.html
Political Background:
The
current laws in the United States dealing with cloning and stem cell research
are quite confusing, and are apt to change in the near future. On the national level, President Bush has
called for a complete ban on both reproductive and therapeutic cloning. The House of Representatives passed such a
ban last month (March, 2003), and the Senate is expected to vote on a similar
bill soon. This would criminalize all
research on human somatic cell nuclear transfer. In August of 2001 President Bush made a speech saying that
federally funded research on human embryonic stem cells could only be conducted
on the approximately 70 cell lines already in existence. In January, 2002,
President Bush named the members of his new Council on Bioethics, charged with
educating the public, and advising the President, on issues of national concern
in the fields of biomedicine. The transcripts of the meetings of the Council
are available on the website www.bioethics.gov. A
book describing their deliberations and findings on human cloning and embryonic
stem cells, called Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry,
is available free online at www.bioethics.gov/reports/cloningreport/index.html.
The council recommended a ban on reproductive cloning, and a four-year
moratorium on therapeutic cloning research.
Remember--the
views expressed by the student panel members are NOT their own personal
views. They are the views of the expert
they represent.
PLEASE BE ON TIME FOR CLASS ON TUESDAY.
WE WILL BEGIN THE PANEL PROMPTLY!