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Australia repeals ban on SCNT

December 6, 2006

 

Australian legislators have reversed a four-year ban on somatic cell nuclear transfer or SCNT.  By allowing “therapeutic cloning” of human embryos for stem cell research, Australia intends to reclaim its position of world leadership in the stem cell race.  It was in Australia - seven years ago - that SCNT was first successfully performed on mouse embryos by Dr. Megan Munsie.

 

Prime Minister John Howard, his two deputies and the leader of the major opposition party all argued to retain the ban, but the House of Representatives leveraged a rare non-party-line vote, aligning instead with medical researchers to overturn the ban by a vote of 82 - 62. In November, the bill was passed by the Senate, 34 – 32.

 

The new law allows therapeutic cloning, the splicing of DNA from skin cells into unfertilized eggs to produce embryonic stem cells, which are capable of becoming any of the tissues of the human body and genetically matched to the patient. Such genetic matching would negate the problem of tissue rejection.

 

The legislation provided regulation of SCNT, including a strict ban on implantation into a womb.  This prevents the cloned embryos from ever becoming a human being.  As a further safeguard, the legislation requires that any SCNT derived embryo must be destroyed within 14 days.

 

Kay Patterson, the senator who authored the bill and former Health Minister, expects it will slow or stop the scientific ‘brain drain’ precipitated by the ban. Patterson also points out that this should enable Australian medical researchers to collaborate with colleagues around the world where therapeutic cloning is allowed, such as the United States, Britain and Singapore.

 

"We don't have a whole lot of stem cell research centers in Australia, but what I think we've done now is stemmed the tide of people leaving and enabling people to come back," Patterson said, adding, "What I hope we see is an ability to work with people in the United States, Singapore and Britain to actually come together to produce some research.”

 

Patterson cautioned that progress will not be as rapid as some would like. Governmental guidelines for egg donation must first be completed and researchers will be required to apply for licenses, which are expected to be highly regulated.  New sources of funding will have to be created as well.  "We're not going to see a slather of experiments and research," according to Patterson. "We're going to see steady, incremental work in this area both here and overseas."

 

Britain became the first country to legalize the cloning of human embryos for stem cell research in 2001.  In the United States, President Bush effectively banned federal funding for research on stem cell lines developed after August 2001, but cloning embryos for research is being researched using private funds.

 

Australian legislators on both sides highlighted the SCNT stem cell issue in the United States.  Duncan Kerr, who supports therapeutic cloning, explained that while visiting the U.S. he learned that embryonic stem cell research was popular among voters and had an impact upon the elections.  "It was overwhelmingly the case that public opinion supported those candidates who identified themselves in favor of permitting stem cell research rather than prohibiting it," he noted.

 

Alan Griffin said Parliament's decision to address SCNT directly was more palatable than "the blinkered American approach where federally funded research is limited and hamstrung - but anything is possible in the privately funded sector."

 

Ann Corcoran referred to the U.S. approach as "a hodgepodge of regulation" lacking the typical Australian cooperation between federal and state governments.

 

Bernie Tuch, a researcher from Sydney, is studying stem cells, trying to create insulin-producing cells as a therapy for diabetes.  He noted that Australia could become a leading research center under the new law.   After the ban was lifted he said, "What it will do is remove blocks to allow pathways of research and discovery in the longer term to be explored in Australia."

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