EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS & CLONING

David Prentice

• Embryonic stem cells (ESC) derived from destruction of early human embryos

• Destroys young human life; zero successful treatments or disease models

• Basic biology: an embryo is the earliest stage of development in any life

• Requires destruction of the embryo • Human ESC first derived in lab in 1998; mouse ESC derived in

1981 • No patient treatments, few and modest success in mice

Sources of Embryos: Fertilized embryos; Cloned embryos

• Frozen “leftover” embryos—a bait & switch; Not enough available, no genetic diversity • Need to create embryos for experiments—egg & sperm donors, or Cloning • Cloning--zero success getting cells after over 10 years of attempts

Destructive Embryo Research Offers False Promises

• Problems continue to plague ESC research • Tumor formation; Misplaced tissue types, Malfunctioning cells; -

Transplant rejection • Embryonic stem cell experts themselves note any potential

treatments are decades away

• Fertilization and Cloning both produce living embryos • Cloning, a.k.a. Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (technique used for

Dolly the cloned sheep) • [Transfer of Nucleus (chromosomes) from Somatic Cell (body cell)

into an egg cell to make clone] • Creating embryos for experiments will require massive harvest of

women’s eggs • Exploiting women’s bodies as raw material for experiments, severe

health risks, incl. death

ONE PAGER • JULY 2010 OP10G04

ALTERNATIVE TO PRODUCE EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS Technique developed for human cells in 2007, Japanese & U.S. scientists “Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells” (iPS cells) Use any cell (e.g., skin, blood), add genes to reprogram normal cell Induced (reprogrammed) stem cells act like embryonic stem cells

• No embryos, eggs, or cloning used • Can make iPS cell from any person, including any patient • Cheaper, easier than ESC, ethical (no destruction of human life)

Stem Cells for Patient Treatment—ADULT STEM CELLS Currently treating thousands of patients for dozens of diseases Additional information and background http://www.frc.org/life--bioethics#stem_cells

ONE PAGER • JULY 2010 OP10G04