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Stanford Plans on Stem Cell Research

Aired December 11, 2002 - 10:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: As we mentioned at the top of the hour, Stanford University says it's going to throw political caution to the wind and launch stem cell research that some critics say is tantamount to human cloning.
For a quick primer on what is involved here, both scientifically and semantically, we turn now to our medical news correspondent, Dr. Gupta.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, I'll tell you -- so they are creating this new institute at Stanford, anonymous money, $12 million of it, actually, anonymous money, to create stem cells. A very promising, yet, as you mentioned, Leon, a very controversial type of cell.

The promise part of it, certainly all sorts of different potential therapies for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancers, all sorts of things.

The controversial part of it, certainly the fact, how do you get these cells? What we've heard about in the past, certainly you can get some of these stem cells from discarded in-vitro fertilization, but the other way you can get these stem cells, the controversial part, is actually to create embryos, albeit in a therapeutic way, but create these embryos to try and harvest these stem cells.

The name for that is somatic nuclear cell transfer. That's a more common name for something else that you've heard of: cloning. That's basically what we are talking about. That is what has got everyone sort of up in arms. Are they cloning, are they not.

My colleague, Elizabeth Cohen, actually talked to one of the doctors there last night. He said, emphatically we are not cloning. All the other scientists in the field say, Call it what you want, but that's what it is.

HARRIS: Because if you leave that cell alone and don't take the nucleus out, it actually could grow into another being.

GUPTA: Actually -- exactly. We're talking about pushing the envelope here. You actually push the envelope. They are saying, Listen, we're going to actually just harvest the stem cells. These cells will never get a chance to actually grow into anything. They will never be implanted into a woman's uterus. But what if? That is the question that other people are asking. What if somebody actually were to take those cells, put it into a woman's uterus, allow it to grow, could this turn into a human being? Many scientists say yes. HARRIS: Now, didn't President Bush come out with a directive a few months ago about no money should ever go to something like this?

GUPTA: Well, what he specifically talked about -- we have got some existing stem cells lines in the world today; 74, I think was the number that they talked about. So, we're not going to give any federal funding for any stem cell lines other than these ones that exist today. Translation, don't do this cloning thing to create any more stem cell lines. Don't do that. We are not going to pay for that. It's not illegal, but we are not going to pay for that is essentially what they are saying. So an important point, this therapeutic cloning, this actually creating of cells for possible therapies down the line, is not illegal, as long as it's privately funded.

HARRIS: And that's the trick here, it was privately funded.

GUPTA: Twelve million dollars from an anonymous donor.

HARRIS: Anonymous donation of $12 million. Those are the kind of friends I need. Where are they when I need them?

GUPTA: Right.

HARRIS: Is this being done at any other university, is there any other laboratory doing this same sort of work at all, or is this only happening at Stanford?

GUPTA: Not in the United States. They did try it at University of California San Francisco, that program actually did not fail. ACT, which is a private company in Massachusetts, also trying it. They were sort of criticized for some of their early efforts. Stanford, a big name, no question about it, trying it. They are still three to five years away. We are not going to have anything, really, to report on this for a while, but this is sort of what we're hearing now.

HARRIS: Interesting. This is just the beginning of this debate...

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: ... keep you posted on that. Absolutely.

HARRIS: All right. Thanks. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 11, 2002 - 10:50   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: As we mentioned at the top of the hour, Stanford University says it's going to throw political caution to the wind and launch stem cell research that some critics say is tantamount to human cloning.
For a quick primer on what is involved here, both scientifically and semantically, we turn now to our medical news correspondent, Dr. Gupta.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, I'll tell you -- so they are creating this new institute at Stanford, anonymous money, $12 million of it, actually, anonymous money, to create stem cells. A very promising, yet, as you mentioned, Leon, a very controversial type of cell.

The promise part of it, certainly all sorts of different potential therapies for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancers, all sorts of things.

The controversial part of it, certainly the fact, how do you get these cells? What we've heard about in the past, certainly you can get some of these stem cells from discarded in-vitro fertilization, but the other way you can get these stem cells, the controversial part, is actually to create embryos, albeit in a therapeutic way, but create these embryos to try and harvest these stem cells.

The name for that is somatic nuclear cell transfer. That's a more common name for something else that you've heard of: cloning. That's basically what we are talking about. That is what has got everyone sort of up in arms. Are they cloning, are they not.

My colleague, Elizabeth Cohen, actually talked to one of the doctors there last night. He said, emphatically we are not cloning. All the other scientists in the field say, Call it what you want, but that's what it is.

HARRIS: Because if you leave that cell alone and don't take the nucleus out, it actually could grow into another being.

GUPTA: Actually -- exactly. We're talking about pushing the envelope here. You actually push the envelope. They are saying, Listen, we're going to actually just harvest the stem cells. These cells will never get a chance to actually grow into anything. They will never be implanted into a woman's uterus. But what if? That is the question that other people are asking. What if somebody actually were to take those cells, put it into a woman's uterus, allow it to grow, could this turn into a human being? Many scientists say yes. HARRIS: Now, didn't President Bush come out with a directive a few months ago about no money should ever go to something like this?

GUPTA: Well, what he specifically talked about -- we have got some existing stem cells lines in the world today; 74, I think was the number that they talked about. So, we're not going to give any federal funding for any stem cell lines other than these ones that exist today. Translation, don't do this cloning thing to create any more stem cell lines. Don't do that. We are not going to pay for that. It's not illegal, but we are not going to pay for that is essentially what they are saying. So an important point, this therapeutic cloning, this actually creating of cells for possible therapies down the line, is not illegal, as long as it's privately funded.

HARRIS: And that's the trick here, it was privately funded.

GUPTA: Twelve million dollars from an anonymous donor.

HARRIS: Anonymous donation of $12 million. Those are the kind of friends I need. Where are they when I need them?

GUPTA: Right.

HARRIS: Is this being done at any other university, is there any other laboratory doing this same sort of work at all, or is this only happening at Stanford?

GUPTA: Not in the United States. They did try it at University of California San Francisco, that program actually did not fail. ACT, which is a private company in Massachusetts, also trying it. They were sort of criticized for some of their early efforts. Stanford, a big name, no question about it, trying it. They are still three to five years away. We are not going to have anything, really, to report on this for a while, but this is sort of what we're hearing now.

HARRIS: Interesting. This is just the beginning of this debate...

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: ... keep you posted on that. Absolutely.

HARRIS: All right. Thanks. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com