AUSTRALIAN scientists and their regulators will be watching closely the
unfolding debate in the UK over working with stem cells. There is strong local
interest in this research which holds out the hope of curing such ailments as
Parkinson鈥檚 disease, Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and diabetes, as well as conditions now
requiring organ transplants.
The problem is that stem cells come from embryos. A report to the British
Government, from a panel chaired by the Chief Medical Officer, Liam Donaldson,
has now recommended that research be allowed on 鈥渢herapeutic cloning鈥濃�攖he
cloning of stem cell tissue for the purpose of repairing damage or curing a
medical condition (快猫短视频, 19 August, p 4). That would be a
significant extension of the current ethical code.
At present in Britain, researchers can legally work only with embryos
produced in course of IVF treatment, and then only up to 14 days old, before the
emergence of the so-called primitive streak鈥攖he first sign of development
of a nervous system and therefore consciousness. And even though these embryos
are plainly not viable outside the body, only work related to infertility can be
undertaken on them.
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In Australia, the legal position is generally even tougher, although the
rules vary by state (under whose jurisdiction the area falls). Alan Trounson and
his colleagues at Monash University have been able to work on cultured human
stem cells only because the lines were derived in Singapore.
The British government supports the Donaldson recommendations. But the
proposals raise such fundamental moral issues that they are opposed by some
religious organisations. So the Blair government will allow a free vote in the
House of Commons. And there may not be a majority for the cloning of stem
cells.
The ethical dilemma revolves around the issue of when life begins. Some
people argue that any fertilised egg is a potential human, and so oppose any
form of research on human embryos. Pragmatists argue that we live in an age in
which therapeutic abortion is legal, so there should be no moral problem in
allowing experiments on a bundle of about 100 cells, barely visible to the naked
eye. But others say this would be the first step down a slippery slope to the
reproductive cloning of humans.
Regulators have discussed the issue in Australia, but there is understandable
nervousness about proceeding. Any extension of the present ethical code would
probably be opposed by the same politicians who shut down the Northern
Territory鈥檚 voluntary euthanasia scheme. They clearly are able to obtain a
majority in the present Parliament.
AT LAST we have some movement on the science policy front in Australia. Chief
快猫短视频 Robin Batterham鈥檚 long-awaited review of science capability has given
the government a loud wake-up call. And recommendations from the National
Innovation Summit will be released this week. Now, action is
needed鈥攅specially since figures last week showed Australia as one of the
few OECD countries where expenditure on R&D is falling as a percentage of
GDP.
The Batterham review, The Chance to Change, paints a stark contrast
between advanced economies and Australia. There is no future, the report says,
for countries which don鈥檛 embrace the knowledge economy. The Aussie dollar will
fall to as low as US$0.30 unless the economy is transformed.
The review calls for investment of about A$200 million a year in
national research facilities, and for government assistance to bolster the
supply of researchers and science teachers. But even these timid steps,
Batterham told a Perth meeting, will be bitterly opposed by sections of the
bureaucracy.
Those same Canberra economists are probably apoplectic at the review鈥檚
proposal for a Science Capability Implementation Group, which would report to
the Prime Minister鈥檚 Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, setting broad
national priorities and resolving problems between agencies. That would really
be interfering in the market.
A recent study by an Adelaide University researcher found that 80 per cent of
chilli-based spices imported to Australia are contaminated with the potent
cancer-causing agent, aflatoxin. So Andreas Klieber has been working to
determine the best conditions for growing and harvesting chillies locally,
making a South Australia spice industry possible. I look forward to his research
making my red curry less dangerous.