The Federal Government denied a report last week that it had decided to ban embryonic stem cell research, though a decision must be made before too long. Stem-cell research is the use of cells which can grow into cells of virtually any sort of human organ. Cells from human embryos in nature ultimately divide to form cells that develop into the whole range of human organs. The mimicking of this in the laboratory raises hopes of finding new treatments for the who range of degenerative diseases, particularly Parkinson’s disease, motor-neurone disease and dementia.
Some adult cells – found in bone marrow can also be used as stem cells, but more research is needed to see if they will provide the same results as embryonic cells. Embryonic cells are taken from embryos left over from IVF programs.
Three states – Victoria, South Australian and Western Australia – have banned the research. If the Federal Government decides against a ban, those states should seriously consider removing their bans.
The Government is yet to respond to the parliamentary committee report last September which supported the use of adult stem cells for research but disagreed over the use of embryonic cells.
Taking adult stem cells has no moral difference from doing skin grafts. It is hardly an issue. The Minister for Ageing who has charge of cloning, Kevin Andrews, has no objection to that. Mr Andrews addressed Cabinet on the issue last week. Taking embryonic cells, however, has troubled right-to-life and religious groups. He said also that there is no proposition before Cabinet to ban using cells from existing embryonic stem-cell lines. The only question, therefore, is whether Australian authorities will ban the deliberate creation of embryos for research that will destroy those embryos.
At present, doctors are permitted to create surplus embryos for couples on an IVF program. Indeed, an IVF program would not work otherwise, or at least it success would be severely truncated. So the creation of human embryos which will inevitably not develop into full humans is already permitted. But it seems, in the eyes of those who condone IVF programs but oppose embryonic stem-cell research, there is less of an ethical difficulty here because in any batch of embryos created, at least one has a chance at full life. It is a difficult distinction to see. Further, it seems difficult to justify the continued suffering of people with degenerative diseases when promising cures and treatments are at hand. On balance, their hopes of living more fulfilling lives should take precedence and governments should allow research to proceed.