Defenders of the rights of embryos: expert comment

A reason for horror stories?Svetlana Sinyavskaya, STRF.ru
The other day, US federal Judge Royce Lambert imposed a temporary ban on government funding for human embryo stem cell research.

Experts believe that such a decision will negatively affect the work of a dozen laboratories: they will have to rely only on private or own funds. Artur Isaev, General Director of the Human Stem Cell Institute, believes that this ban is just speculation.

– These Americans are strange people – they are suing their president. I think there will be no ban, it's just speculation. Yes, in America, the judiciary can cancel some decisions of the head of state. Indeed, the previous decision of George W. Bush, the author of the nine-year ban on experiments with human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) was beneficial to some scientists. In addition, some people who believe in God, who do not delve deeply into this issue, are trying to return the ban. But, alas, the truth and objective reality are not on their side.

I believe that funding from the American state for the work of scientists with human embryonic stem cells obtained from embryos by artificial insemination will be continued in the near future.

The explanation is very simple: the ability of the United States to lead in this area of science depends on it. Most countries have already made civilized conclusions and lifted restrictions on research, the general trend is that human embryonic stem cells should be actively studied.

All surveys show that society has already made a choice in favor of science, progress and the future of medicine.

At the same time, as a rule, ethical problems or questions about the fact that stem cells cause cancer are discussed by people who are far from medicine, do not read scientific literature, and draw their knowledge from the horror stories of the yellow press. Or they are unscrupulous scientists.

Let me remind you that embryonic stem cells have nothing to do with abortion. It's not a fetus with arms and legs, it's 50-100 cells. Scientists get them from embryos left and unused after the in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure, which has been done for a long time with infertility. That is, it is an embryo in a test tube at the blastocyst stage, which is a bubble consisting, as I said, of 50-100 cells. At the same time, if the IVF procedure was successful, then, for example, two blastocysts out of seven can be used for it.

In 99 percent of cases, the unused five blastocysts have the same fate – to be destroyed, since the parents solved the problem of infertility. And no one cares about the fate of these embryos, there are no discussions about this. But the opportunity to take and use a blastocyst in 1 percent of the case in compliance with all ethical standards to create an ESC line is a reason for horror stories. Double standards. Ask yourself the question: does it make sense to discuss the possibility of using 50-100 blastocyst cells for the benefit of science and in the name of a chance to cure many patients, which should be destroyed, while in many countries abortion of a three-month fetus and medical termination of pregnancy are legally allowed?

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru27.08.2010