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NRL News
Pro-Life
News in Brief Australia May Give Patent to Disgraced Researcher An Australian government agency is close to granting a patent to Hwang Woo-suk for his embryo-cloning technique that was proved fraudulent. IP Australia announced September 24 that a three-month comment period passed without anyone raising objections to the patent, but that it needed to complete an investigation before the patent would be officially granted, according to the Associated Press. Hwang claimed in papers published in Science in 2004 and 2005 that he created stem cells that were derived from cloned human embryos. However, DNA tests found that they were actually cells from embryos created for in vitro fertilization or eggs developed without fertilization by sperm, according to Korea Times. Purported evidence that accompanied the papers was faked. David Johnson, acting commissioner of patents for IP Australia, said in a statement that the agency did not take the evidence of fraud into account when it initially approved the application, but merely determined that the “claimed invention” is unique. If someone files a suit against the technique, then a court could determine whether it is genuine. “There is no statutory basis to refuse to grant a patent on the basis that the scientific data in a patent application is a misrepresentation or fraudulently obtained,” Johnson said. “However, it is a ground for revocation by the Court. In accepting the application in question, IP Australia is not endorsing the research that underpins the application.” Hwang, whose South Korean license to use human embryos in research was revoked in March 2006, is currently conducting cloning experiments on animals, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. His supporters claimed that Australia’s acceptance of his patent application showed approval of his research. “This shows that Hwang’s achievements, disparaged at home, are being acknowledged abroad,” Hyun Sang-hwan told the Herald. “The truth is becoming known.” Others said they doubted Hwang’s research would ever be accepted by the medical community, no matter what patents he receives. “There will always be a doubt in the minds of scientists around the world: he faked it before—what’s he doing now?” said Lyle Armstrong of the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University in Britain, according to the Herald. Prenatal Testing for Down Syndrome Dangerous for All Babies A study published by Down Syndrome Education International, a British charity organization, reports that invasive prenatal testing kills 400 healthy babies a year who had been identified as having the condition by false-positive blood tests, The Telegraph reported. The testing also results in annual abortions of 660 British babies with Down syndrome who would have survived until birth if the pregnancies were allowed to progress, Frank Buckley and Sue Buckley wrote in the online version of Down Syndrome Research and Practice. The Buckleys published the study in order to spur discussion of the ethics of prenatal testing and abortion for Down syndrome as screening techniques become more advanced and more common. “The authors of this editorial do not consider a diagnosis of Down syndrome to be a sufficient reason to justify termination and so disagree with the basic premise for prenatal screening for Down syndrome,” they wrote. “Harming babies who do not have Down syndrome in the process seems to us unjustifiable.” “When widespread prenatal whole genome screening becomes a possibility, many of the troubling issues raised by our experiences of screening for Down syndrome will be brought into sharper focus,” the Buckleys continued. “The technology may be with us within 5 years. The authors believe that wider public debate should begin now.” Their concerns about prenatal screening are timely. Statistics published in the National Down Syndrome Cytogenetic Register in April, covering diagnoses and outcomes for pregnancies in England and Wales, estimated that 92% of unborn babies whose Down syndrome was discovered in utero were aborted in 2006. Now, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is recommending that all pregnant women should undergo “combined screening” for Down syndrome, which would include blood tests and scans, according to Press Association (PA). Because of these developments, Down Syndrome Education International sent a letter to the prime minister in September urging the government to review its policies on Down syndrome and prenatal testing. “We believe that there has been inadequate public debate to support a public health policy designed to genetically screen against the birth of people who typically have moderate learning difficulties and additional risks of health conditions that can be successfully treated,” the organization wrote. “Down syndrome screening sets a worrying precedent for the prenatal diagnosis and termination of babies identified by an ever-widening range of genetic risk factors for mental and physical characteristics.” Bone Marrow Stem Cells Treat Stroke in Mice A study published in the September 15 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online showed that bone marrow stem cells can reduce the damage caused by reduced blood flow to the brain, which happens during a stroke or heart attack. Researchers at Tulane University’s Center for Gene Therapy temporarily cut off blood flow to the brains of mice and then injected human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs), derived from bone marrow, into their brains, HealthDay News reported. Rather than growing new cells, the injected human cells triggered the genes in the mice’s brains to reverse harmful effects of the blood flow reduction. “The big thing was finding out how these cells were helping,” senior author Dr. Darwin Prockop told HealthDay News. “This dramatic crosstalk was very surprising. The human cells specifically turned down immune and inflammatory reactions.” The researchers reported that the number of neurons that were no longer responsive was reduced by 60%, and the mice began to show great improvement in motor skills. They said they will continue testing to move toward possible treatment in humans. “We are planning clinical trials of the cells we used in patients with stroke,” Prockop told the Daily Telegraph. “In the meantime we are planning further experiments in mice and a larger animal, probably pigs, on efficacy and toxicity.” |