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CNN Sunday Morning
Debate Rages on Stem Cell Research
Aired August 05, 2001 - 09:33 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.
REA BLAKEY, CNN ANCHOR: The House stepped up to the plate last week and weighed in on the controversial issue of human cloning. Now, by a wide margin lawmakers voted to ban human cloning, even the cloning of embryos for the purpose of medical research.
Critics say the prospect of finding cures for disease will take a hit. Joining me from Boston to talk about his is Michael West, who is president and CEO of Advanced Cell Technology.
Mr. West, you say that you are the person who started stem cell research in the U.S. Tell us about that.
MICHAEL WEST, ADVANCED CELL TECHNOLOGY: Well, I'm taking too much credit for things, maybe. Back in 1995 I, with some of my scientific colleagues, Jamie Thompson at the University of Wisconsin, John Gearhart at Johns Hopkins University, together organized an effort, I with a company funded to work, to try to isolate for the first time cells from the sort of the trunk of this tree of cellular life. Cells that could become any cells or tissue in the human body, and that was finally done in 1998.
BLAKEY: OK. Now, let's move up, you know, to the recent past, here. Just last week, the House passed this bill banning human cloning. What's your take on that? What happens now?
WEST: Well, you know, I think it maybe would be good for us to stop and look back in history. There's been times when science and policy don't quite link up, you know, in time frames. We're in a little bit of a future shock.
You saw that in the 1970's with what was called recombinant DNA research. There was bills proposed that would ban this whole area of research and tinkering with DNA, you know, as though we were playing God. This is a critical part of medical research today and has led to many lifesaving therapies.
In the same way, I would argue, we're seeing the same thing today. Technology, this cloning technology is not seen to be used to clone human beings, but used in the laboratory to take a patient's cell back in time in this little time machine we call the egg cell, to make cells go back to this trunk of the tree of life, so we could make virtually anything for a patient. Cells for diabetes, cells for Parkinson's disease, heart failure, a very long list of possibilities, and we're very excited about it. And at the same time, we see the U.S. Congress afraid of the future, I think, proposing a broad band in this whole area of medical research.
BLAKEY: OK. And help fill in the gap, here. I think a lot of our viewers are a little bit confused about how the embryonic stem cells have an effect on the potential for human cloning. Where is the combination there?
WEST: Well, you know, the -- it's simple really. There are cells, as I said, at sort of the trunk of the tree of life, of cellular life. We call those the ultimate stem cells; cells that can branch out into any cell in the body. But they occur in the first few days of human development. You and I have no such cells in our body as far as we know.
So, the only way of making them for a patient, and especially for a patient such that their body would not reject them, is to create these cells via nuclear transfer or cloning technology. So, we would take a patient's cell back in time to make these very special cells from which we could then for the first time in the history of transplant medicine, offer any patient any cell or tissue so they wouldn't have to die waiting for, you know, liver tissue or kidney tissue or a heart transplant, and that sort of thing.
BLAKEY: Now, Advanced Cell Technology has sort of pushed the edge, the envelope, on this, if you will. Your institution actually was prepared to go ahead with a program that would in fact provide embryonic stem cells for therapeutic human cloning. What happens now?
WEST: Well, you know, I think, like back in the 1970's, we need to all take time to reflect on where this science is going. What I feel is the biggest problem here is, you know, back in the early parts of the last few centuries in the Massachusetts area, we took people to the gallows on trial for witchcraft. And you can imagine taking a person, putting the noose in front of them, and then saying now let's hear your point of view.
We have a bit of a lynch mob mentality going on. I think it's a reaction to this whole use of the word cloning and embryos. But since this is such an important area of medicine, I think it is absolutely critically important, for the sake of millions of people who could be effected by these therapies, you know, that could save their lives. If we take the time.
BLAKEY: And finally -- yeah, I was going to say...
WEST: And make a thorough analysis of the situation.
BLAKEY: OK. Couldn't you simply use the embryos that are available already as opposed to trying to create clones?
WEST: Right. The cells that exist today, these embryonic stem cell cultures, were made from embryos left over from IVF. And they're not you. So, they do a miracle in the laboratory dish, they make beating heart muscle cells and blood cells, but they can't yet do the miracle in the hospital bed that we all envision.
You know, the whole debate about federal funding is all about turning these into therapies, not just allowing science to increase its knowledge base. We want to help people who are sick. And so we need to be able to make these cells identical to a patient so their body won't reject them. Cloning, as afraid as many of us are of cloning, it opens the door to make these cells for anybody identical to the patient. That's a wonderful gift to mankind. I think we need to take the time to figure out how we can translate that miracle into a miracle in the hospital bed.
BLAKEY: Michael West, with Advanced Cell Technology. Thank you for joining us. Obviously, the debate rages on and, Brian, you have more on that, right?
WEST: Indeed. Thank you, Rea.
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