Stem cells from amniotic fluid may help avoid ethical dilemma

LIFE DIGEST: Stem cells from amniotic fluid may help avoid ethical dilemma

Jan 8, 2007
By Tom Strode
Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (BP)--Scientists have announced the discovery of cells that have much the same potential as embryonic stem cells but without their ethical drawback, even as the House of Representatives prepares to vote again to fund experiments that destroy human embryos.

A team of researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital in Boston found the stem cells in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women, according to The Washington Post. Unlike embryonic stem cell research, the extraction of the cells from the fluid that surrounds an unborn child does not require the destruction of a tiny human being. These cells have the ability to develop into a variety of tissues, a trait of embryonic stem cells, but do not have the tendency to form tumors, a propensity that has plagued research on cells from embryos.

The promising research, reported Jan. 7 in the online version of the journal Nature Biotechnology, was announced only days before the House is set to vote on a bill identical to one President Bush vetoed last year. The vote on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, H.R. 3, is expected to take place by Jan. 11. The measure would provide federal funds for research using stem cells extracted from embryos stored at in vitro fertilization clinics.
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