Bioethicist airs stem cell alternative to lawmakers
Says process can lead to 'consensus'
A medical ethicist from Stanford who wants to create embryonic stem cells without actually creating a human embryo briefed Governor Mitt Romney and state lawmakers yesterday as policymakers weighed the future of stem cell research in Massachusetts.
William Hurlbut, a physician and member of the President's Council on
Hurlbut believes scientists can create stem cells through a process called "altered nuclear transfer." The cells created in this process are incapable of becoming a human life and therefore the method is more morally responsible, Hurlbut told reporters outside the governor's office.
The process has been successfully tested on mice, but has not yet been conducted with human cells, Hurlbut said after holding separate meetings with Romney and members of the Legislature who are weighing a bill sponsored by Senate President Robert Travaglini that allows therapeutic cloning.
"I put this proposal forward as a solution that can sustain consensus," Hurlbut said. "Not have one side override the other. I am not in favor of any embryo destruction and I believe that this process has the potential to solve it without creating embryos."
Romney said he was originally under the impression that this type of research was already being conducted, and that he still believes it is a better avenue to pursue than the approach that would be legalized by legislation filed by Travaglini.
"I find it very interesting to learn that there are apparently several theoretical approaches in addition to the theoretical approach of human cloning to obtain embryonic stem cells for research," Romney said. "Let's do those rather than open the door to something which many of us believe [is] unethical."
Some lawmakers said they oppose Hurlbut's proposal.
"This is science proposed by a nonscientist," said Representative Peter Koutoujian, a Waltham Democrat who is cochairman of the Legislature's Public Health Committee. "This gentleman is a medical ethicist and his theory has been debunked by research scientists throughout academia. Even if this can be done, he's presenting a compromised entity. It is not the same as an embryonic stem cell. It is a damaged embryo so you can't even compare. You can't use apples to make orange juice."
