Australian stem cell breakthrough draws fire from right-to-life campaigners
 24 June 2004

SYDNEY : Right-to-life campaigners protested on Thursday after a Sydney laboratory revealed it had created Australia's first human embryonic stem cells.

The clinic, Sydney IVF, said it had used a surplus embryo supplied by a couple who had undergone in-vitro fertilisation treatment to grow stem cells after receiving federal approval for the experiment in April.

New South Wales state Science Minister Frank Sartor hailed the development as a big step toward finding treatments for spinal cord injuries and degenerative diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis.

But Right to Life Australia president Margaret Tighe condemned the procedure.

"Let us not forget that each embryo used in this destructive way is somebody's son or daughter being subjected to a gross abuse of human rights," she said.

Stem cells, because they can reproduce repeatedly and develop into different cell types, hold out the promise of repairing damaged tissue and providing future treatment for degenerative diseases.

Tighe said scientists did not need to destroy human embryos to advance their research because adult stem cells were available.

"Adult stem cell research had thus far proven much more successful than that using cells taken from embryos," she said.

"Adult stem cell research ... is going ahead in leaps and bounds with exciting outcomes which give far greater scope for the sick and disabled."

The Sydney couple involved in the Australian experiment had first completed their family and then donated three frozen embryos to be used for stem cell extraction, two of which did not give successful results, clinic officials said. - AFP