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Anne Campbell MP
A recent report by the Chief Medical Officer's Expert Group on Therapeutic Cloning - "Stem Cell Research: Medical Progress with Responsibility" - concluded that stem cells have enormous potential to create new forms of treatment for currently incurable diseases. Scientists envisage that, one day, stem cells may provide an entirely new source of tissue for transplantation in diseased or damaged organs. It is also foreseen that stem cell research may lead to breakthroughs in the treatment of diseases such as cancer, spinal injury, diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Although major programmes of research are needed to assess whether this potential can be realised in practice, after careful consideration of ethical, scientific, legal and medical issues involved, the Expert Group recommended extending the currently permitted grounds for embryo research to include the treatment of a range of human diseases. The Expert Group also recommended that research involving cell nuclear replacement, (so-called 'therapeutic cloning'), should be allowed to help understand the biological mechanisms involved in the growth and development of human cells. The existing stringent safeguards in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 will, of course, apply to this extension of the grounds for embryo research. The Group has also recommended that specific consent is given before early embryos can be donated for stem cell research. I agree with the Expert Group and I voted in favour of permitting the
extension of the use of embryos for stem cell research. My mother suffered
from Parkinson's and I know, at first hand, what a distressing and debilitating
illness it is. I want to see a cure for these diseases and I believe
stem cell research may eventually provide the answers. |
