EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS TO FEED ON ABORTED BABY TISSUE

Another horror story behind the manufacture of humanembryonic stem cells

SYDNEY, August 6, 2002 (LSN.ca) - A political debate inAustralia has let the cat out of the bag on another horror behind the

manufacture of human embryonic stem cells.  Australia's foremost scientist,Professor Alan Trounson, has enraged the Prime Minster by

revealing that human embryonic stem cells are to be fed withtissue from aborted babies.

Scientists have grown the stem cells on "feederlayers" made up of fetal tissue from animals, mostly mice. However,scientists have

known that feeder layers which involve animals have a chanceof contaminating the human embryonic stem cells, thus making them very

risky for later transplantation into humans.  Using aborted baby tissue as a feederlayer would eliminate the xeno (animal-derived)

risk.

The full details on the "human feeders" arerevealed in the latest issue of Nature Biotechnology in an article entitled,"Human feeders

support prolonged undifferentiated growth of human innercell masses and embryonic stem cells" by Mark Richards, Chui-Yee Fong,

Woon-Khiong Chan, Peng-Cheang Wong & Ariff Bongso.(Published online: 5 August 2002, doi:10.1038/nbt726)

See the coverage in the Sydney Morning Herald:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/05/1028157895589.html