Warning over lack of laws on stem cell research

THE dilemma of what to do with unused embryos following fertility treatment will not be resolved as long as the Government fails to introduce laws governing assisted human reproduction (AHR) and embryonic stem cell research, doctors and scientists have warned.

In addition, failure to legislate in this area means there is no legal impediment to human cloning, according to the Irish Stem Cell Foundation (ISCF), Ireland’s national stem cell research organisation.

The foundation, which supports the regulated use for research of embryos that are surplus to the requirements of a clinical IVF programme, claims the absence of an open and transparent stem cell policy is costing Ireland valuable research opportunities because researchers cannot work effectively in an environment where there is no regulatory framework.

ISCF director and chief scientific officer, Dr Stephen Sullivan, said Ireland’s attractiveness for “cutting edge medical research” was undermined by Government inertia, which had “a profound effect on research and on the economy”.

“Many researchers and clinicians are reluctant to work in Ireland because of the absence of a legislative framework and this is undermining our capacity to bring jobs and investment into the economy.

“While on one hand the Government has recognised the need to develop neuroscience and disease centred research, and it supports the production of patents and the curing of patients, it is not producing the legislation to drive related work in this area forward,” Dr Sullivan said.

He said that at the moment, embryos left over from IVF are “discarded as medical waste” and it was neither possible to donate embryos to other couples or use them in vital medical research.

Dr Sullivan said there was much confusion among the general public as to the usefulness of stem cell research and that regulation would help clear this up.

He said stem cells currently offered nine treatments, including for certain types of cancer such as lymphoma and leukaemia, as well as rare blood disorders and very specific eye and skin conditions. He said these were proven treatments.

Some universities, including University College Cork and Trinity College Dublin, have developed their own “in-house” guidelines, which permit the use of human embryonic stem cell lines once the scientific, medical and ethical merit of the proposed research has been established.

Dr Sullivan said they had been forced to do this in the absence of a national regulatory framework.

Last December, in the Supreme Court, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman warned that Ireland was in danger of becoming the “unregulated environment for practices that may be controversial”, after the court was forced to pronounce “on the question of when human life begins” in a case involving frozen embryos.

Tomorrow, the IFSC will launch a policy document on human embryonic stem cell research in which it will outline the debate to date and state its own position.

Yesterday the Department of Health said Health Minister Mary Harney intends to bring forward proposals to Government later this year with a view to drafting legislation to govern the area of AHR and related practices.

“The work involved in developing these proposals will examine and consider – among other things – the issues arising from the frozen embryos Supreme Court judgment,” a spokesperson for the department said.

* For more information, log on to www.irishstemcellfoundation.org.