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Stem Cell Controversy Continues As Ottawa Tables Bill N OUVELLES Stem cell controversy continues as Ottawa tables bill On the heels of recent guidelines from prohibits paying women to act as surro- Assisted Human Reproduction Agency the Canadian Institutes of Health Re- gate mothers. of Canada, to monitor and enforce the search (CIHR, see CMAJ 2002;166[8]: Scientists embraced the contents of regulations and to set the parameters for 1077), Health Canada has issued its own the legislation, saying it will permit the stem cell research. rules for stem cell research that will per- best research because both adult and “We are quite pleased that the legis- mit the study of both embryonic and embryonic stem cells will be available lation resembles what was in the CIHR adult stem cells. for use in the laboratory. As with the guidelines,” says Dr. Barbara Beckett, The Act Respecting Assisted Human CIHR guidelines, the legislation will not manager of scientific affairs and training Reproduction, introduced May 9, bans permit the creation of embryos for stem at the Stem Cell Network, an organiza- human cloning and the buying or selling cell research, but it will allow surplus tion representing university-based re- of human sperm, eggs or embryos, or embryos produced during in-vitro fertil- searchers from across the country. “Re- providing goods and services in ex- ization to be used for medical research. searchers don’t want to close the door change for them. The proposed law also The legislation also creates a body, the on embryonic stem cells. The hope is that both adult and embryonic stem cells can be manipulated to highlight the best properties of both cell types and ulti- Post-traumatic stress an occupational mately obtain the best therapy possible.” While embryonic stem cells can form hazard for journalists? cells for every tissue in the body, it’s un- For years, firefighters, police, ambulance attendants and other emergency and clear if adult stem cells can do the same, military personnel have been offered ways to cope with the carnage and may- explained Beckett, who holds a PhD in hem they witness. However, journalists who often witness the same atrocities, biochemistry. haven’t received any help. Now that’s changing with Newscoverage Unlimited Federal Health Minister Anne (www.newscoverage.org/), an educational, non-profit organization founded McLellan said she is taking a middle-of- in 2000 by Montreal journalist Robert Frank. It trains journalists to help each the-road path, but critics say the legisla- other with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression or drug depen- tion supports experimentation for exper- dency. (The US National Center for PTSD offers a research-based Web site imentation’s sake. “They should on all aspects of the disorder, www.ncptsd.org/about/history/index.html.) concentrate on adult stem cell research, Newscoverage has run two 3-day which seems to have far greater poten- sessions that have trained 17 news per- tial,” says Karen Murawsky, director of sonnel how to help potentially trauma- public affairs for the Campaign Life tized coworkers. Frank became con- Coalition. “While there are claims that vinced the organization was needed embryonic stem cells cure diseases, there following the September 1998 Swissair is no proof that they have worked.” crash off Nova Scotia that killed 229 Murawsky added that the new legis- people. As coverage continued, jour- lation mirrors the CIHR recommenda- nalists gathered informally to discuss tions rather than reflecting the views of what they’d seen. Frank says the expe- MPs, and said a free vote in the Com- rience taught him that reporters “can mons should be held. McLellan expects Canapress be affected by a story.” the bill to pass before the current session Suspects in the abduction and murder of Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, of Parliament ends. Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl there has been more recognition of this In the US, President George Bush are arrested in Pakistan. stress. “Dan Rather [of CBS News] was wants the Senate to pass a law banning crying that day,” Frank said during a all human cloning, including the cloning recent Canadian Association of Journalists meeting. “It changed everything for of embryos for research and treatment journalists.” Bob McKeown, an NBC correspondent, said the Sept. 11 attacks of diseases. In 2000, the US agreed to “turned up the emotional thermostat for a lot of us.” (The physical danger is permit federally financed research on also increasing, with 37 journalists dying on the job in 2001, including Wall stem cell lines derived from embryos Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was murdered as he pursued a story.) discarded by fertility clinics. Frank warns that journalists face obstacles in combating on-the-job trauma. The UK has approved research in- Journalism is an intensely competitive profession, he says, and reporters are volving embryonic stem cells. Last fall, “significantly reluctant to acknowledge any vulnerability. Saying you were the House of Lords passed a bill ban- traumatized covering a car accident could land you a choice assignment in the ning reproductive human cloning. How- Food section.” — Barbara Sibbald, CMAJ ever, the government says it is commit- ted to therapeutic cell cloning to cure illness. — Louise Gagnon, Ottawa 1704 JAMC • 25 JUIN 2002; 166 (13).
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