Montreal: Cord Stem Cell Blood Banks Get No Opposition in Endangering Babies.

PUBLIC UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD BANKS EXPAND CHANCES FOR MATCH

Canada's second public cord blood bank is set to offer free, life-saving

cells for children who need it.

FULL STORY:

http://cbc.ca/stories/2003/01/29/cord_blood030129

Public umbilical cord blood banks expand chances for match

Last Updated Thu, 30 Jan 2003 13:03:11

MONTREAL - Canada's second public cord blood bank is set to offer free, life-saving cells for children who need it.

(See also Premature Baby , born in Montreal, gives up placenta blood for her mother.)

INDEPTH: Stem Cells

For years, Canadian parents have had the option of storing cord blood privately in case their children need the treatment for leukemia or severe anemia.

Extraction from an umbilical cord  

The umbilical cord and placenta contain enough stem cells to regenerate blood cells in young people.

The country's first public facility opened in Edmonton four years ago. In the fall, a new bank plans to open in Montreal.

A central computer registry connects the 40 public cord blood banks around the world. Each unit must be matched to the recipient.

The public banks have 1,000 units of cord blood in stock. Hematology oncologist Dr. Martin Champagne of Ste. Justine Children's Hospital in Montreal said even though a large number of units are available, outcomes are better if the match is closer.

Doctors say adding to the public supply could better the odds of finding matches, especially for ethnic minorities.

"I think that another cord blood bank in Quebec will aid us," said Dr. John Akabutu of the Alberta Cord Blood Bank. "After all, there are 330,000 deliveries in Canada in just one year."

Cord blood is screened like regular blood. The challenge is persuading pregnant women to donate.

Jonathan Masse

Three years ago, an infusion of cord blood cells from Italy helped save 13-year-old Jonathan Masse. He suffered from Franconi's anemia, a life-threatening disease.

Masse said he hopes more women say yes to recruiters, so other kids get the same chance he did.

Written by CBC News Online staff

More on Stem Cells:

Stem cells

Amina Ali and Owen Wood

CBC News Online | April 2001

Scientists have been all abuzz in the last couple of years over something called "stem cells" – cellular magicians that promise to dazzle and amaze.

In December 1999, the editors of Science, the journal devoted to scientific and medical matters, went as far as calling stem-cell research the "Breakthrough of the Year."

Here's a quick overview on what all the excitement is about.

What are stem cells?

Stem cells can be thought of as blank slates or cells that have yet to become specialized. They have the ability to become any type of cell to form skin, bones, organs or other body parts.

Are there different kinds of stems cells?

Yes. Stem cells come in three forms: embryonic stem cells, embryonic germ cells and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells come from embryos, embryonic germ cells from testes, and adult stem cells can come from bone marrow.

Embryonic stem cells can become any type of cell while adult stem cells are more limited. But recent evidence suggests it may be possible to reprogram adult stems to repair tissues.

What could stem cells be used for?

Scientists are fascinated by stem cells' ability to become any type of cell. This makes them perfect for a wide range of medical uses, from repairing tissue to treating diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Doctors can already transplant tissue and organ cells but they are limited by a lack of donors. Stem cells could allow them to grow the tissue they need, when they need it.

What has been done so far?

Stem cell research has shown benefits in many areas of health, but most of the studies have only been done on lab animals. Some examples are:

improved stroke recovery shown in rats

embryonic stem cells were used to treat a Parkinson's-like condition in mice and rats

scientists caused new brain cells to grow from adult stem cells in birds

Canadian and Italian scientists transplanted adult stem cells from the brains of mice into the bone marrow of other rodents. The stem cells changed behaviour and began making blood cells.

movement was restored in paralyzed mice and rats by injecting stem cells into the spinal fluid

In one of the few stem cell studies done involving humans, some people who failed to benefit from cataract surgery improved when they received corneal stem cell transplants.

What do stem cells have to do with cloning?

When people think of cloning they usually think of copying people from head to toe. But human cloning also includes making copies of just cells.

Researchers don't necessarily need to clone stem cells, but cloning would make their work a whole lot easier. Instead of having to collect the millions of stem cells needed to grow a patch of skin for a patient who suffered a severe burn for example, doctors could collect only a few stem cells and make millions of copies.

What are the ethical issues involved?

Currently, the best source for stem cells is a human embryo. But using human material, such as aborted fetuses, in research is a contensious issue because it can be construed as the sacrifice of human life for scientific progress.

So far there are no federal laws in Canada to ban the use of human embryonic tissue in research. Although members of the medical community are still debating what should and shouldn't be allowed, the overall consensus seems to be that stem-cell research should go ahead, but with strict limitations.

In March 2001, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research suggested guidelines for the use of stem cells. The guidelines limit scientists to using left-over embryos created to help couples conceive, and only if the couples agree. The embryos also wouldn't be allowed to exceed more than 14 days old.

http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/background/stemcells.html

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Canada's Position - Protect Embryos not the newborn baby of being deprived stem cells by early cord clamping.

Canada still wrestling with stem cell decision
Last Updated Fri Aug 10 19:48:08 2001

OTTAWA - U.S. President George W. Bush's announcement he will allow federal funding for limited research on embryonic stem cells is being criticized by some Canadian scientists who say the decision doesn't go far enough.

• INDEPTH: {HYPERLINK "http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/background/stemcells.html"} Stem Cells

It's believed by working with cells extracted from human embryos, scientists can develop cures for chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Bush's decision has been denounced as 'morally unacceptable' by the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S.

Others, such as Canadian-born actor Michael J. Fox, welcomed the move to allow limited research. Fox is an advocate for research into Parkinson's disease, from which he suffers.

Canadian scientists have been world leaders in cell research since the 1970s. They've done much work into mouse and adult stem cells.

When it comes to embryonic cells, however, they're waiting for new regulations to come into place.

Ottawa has prepared draft legislation that would control what scientists can do. It's similar to the proposal announced by Bush, allowing research on existing cell lines from embryos that have already been destroyed.

But the Canadian regulations would go one step further. They would allow scientists to conduct studies on newly-generated cells as well.

Those draft rules are supported by many leading cell researchers, including Dr. Janet Rossant of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

"It brings a clearly regulated environment for researchers to work with these cells. It allows a wide range of researchers to explore their potential. And since these cells have the potential to make so many different cell types, there really is the hope that they can be used in the future to help repair damaged tissue," she said.

Rossant says that could lead to new replacement organs being grown, even cures for many diseases.

But for some, the research goes too far.

Dr. John Shea is with Campaign Life Coalition. He says it's wrong to allow scientists to harvest embryos which he considers to be living organisms.

"If we decide that there are certain classes of human beings which can be used like a product for some other good reason even, then we send a sign: we've gone right back to Nuremberg. People's rights don't come from the government."

The regulations concerning cell research in Canada will be determined by the House of Commons. Right now, the draft legislation is being considered by a parliamentary committee.

Tim Caulfield, a professor with the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta, says there's no doubt those proceedings will be controversial.

"It's very difficult for regulators to compromise and to come up with a policy to make everyone happy. So no matter what happens in Canada, not everyone is going to be happy, and this controversy isn't going away."

Many expect it will only heat up as Parliament considers the legislation.

The federal Health Department expects the bill could become law by the spring of next year.

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/08/10/stem010810

Written by CBC News Online staff{HYPERLINK "http://cbc.ca/bios.html"}

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Pope Alleged Allowing Stem Cells to be taken from cords of babies.  Did he understand the weakening of the babies?

Pope to Bush - don't allow stem cell research

Last Updated Mon Jul 23 16:34:15 2001

CASTEL GANDOLFO - U.S. President George W. Bush said he would consider Pope John Paul II's appeal when he makes his final decision on whether to allow medical research using human embryos.

Following the first meeting between the president and the pontiff, John Paul said America has a moral responsibility not to allow stem cell research, or any other actions that "devalue" human life.

Pope John Paul II and President George W. Bush

Bush said he wasn't surprised by the Pope's admonition, but said he needs to balance concerns about respect for human life with the promise scientific research holds.

Bush and the Pope met behind closed doors at the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome.

Speaking later, Bush said the subject of stem cell research didn't come up in his talks with John Paul. Rather, the Pope wanted to focus on foreign policy and Bush's meeting on Sunday with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Bush and the Russian president discussed the future of arms control in light of U.S. plans for a missile defence system.

A Vatican spokesman said the Pope opposes any stem cell research that uses embryos. Other sources of stem cells such as umbilical cord blood were not condemned by the Pope.

On one side, scientists say stem cell research could lead to cures for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's, diabetes and spinal cord injuries.

But anti-abortion activists oppose the research saying harvesting stem cells kills an embryo, which they regard as human life.

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/07/23/pope_bush010723

Written by CBC News Online staff

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/07/23/pope_bush010723

Canadian Institute of Research:

Canadian research furthers stem cell growth

Last Updated Wed Jan 31 10:33:30 2001

LONDON, ONTARIO - Stem cell research is often controversial - a minefield of ethical concerns surrounds its use of aborted fetuses and human embryos. New research may change all that - allowing researchers to grow adult stem cells in a lab.

Researchers at the J.P. Robarts Research Institute in London, Ontario, take credit as the first to accomplish that feat. Dr. Mickie Bhatia and his colleagues took a protein known to make embryonic stem cells reproduce, and used it on adult stem cells.

Dr. Bhatia  

Adults have small numbers of stem cells in their bone marrow or other parts of the body, but the cells appear to be in a slow-growth mode, not reproducing as they did in the embryonic stage.

But once given the protein, they started to grow and reproduce.

The protein in question has the different name of 'sonic hedgehog,' the legacy of the video-game-loving scientist who discovered it.

Other effects

Apart from easing ethical concerns, the discovery may make life easier for cancer patients.

Before undergoing chemotherapy, patients often have bone marrow cells removed by their doctors. The cells are cultured, to be reinjected after the chemo treatment.

By adding the sonic hedgehog protein to bone marrow cultures, marrow cells may grow more quickly, giving a bigger boost to patients' recovery.

The work will be published this week in the journal Nature Immunology.

Written by CBC News Online staff

Canadian research furthers stem cell growth

Last Updated Wed Jan 31 10:33:30 2001

LONDON, ONTARIO - Stem cell research is often controversial - a minefield of ethical concerns surrounds its use of aborted fetuses and human embryos. New research may change all that - allowing researchers to grow adult stem cells in a lab.

Researchers at the J.P. Robarts Research Institute in London, Ontario, take credit as the first to accomplish that feat. Dr. Mickie Bhatia and his colleagues took a protein known to make embryonic stem cells reproduce, and used it on adult stem cells.

Dr. Bhatia  

Adults have small numbers of stem cells in their bone marrow or other parts of the body, but the cells appear to be in a slow-growth mode, not reproducing as they did in the embryonic stage.

But once given the protein, they started to grow and reproduce.

The protein in question has the different name of 'sonic hedgehog,' the legacy of the video-game-loving scientist who discovered it.

Other effects

Apart from easing ethical concerns, the discovery may make life easier for cancer patients.

Before undergoing chemotherapy, patients often have bone marrow cells removed by their doctors. The cells are cultured, to be reinjected after the chemo treatment.

By adding the sonic hedgehog protein to bone marrow cultures, marrow cells may grow more quickly, giving a bigger boost to patients' recovery.

The work will be published this week in the journal Nature Immunology.

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?category=Sci-Tech&story=/news/2001/01/30/stemcell_grow010130

Written by CBC News Online staff

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Dead Brain Cells used for Research

Dead brains become source for new cells

Last Updated Mon Nov 6 15:04:26 2000

NEW ORLEANS - Scientists have discovered even cadavers can supply the incredibly versatile brain stem cells once thought to be available only from fetal tissue.

Brain stem cells are master cells that can turn into different kinds of brain and nerve cells.

Dr. Fred H. Gage of the Salk Institute at LaJolla, Calif., worked on the cadavers. His research used bits of tissue taken soon after death from children and young adults who had died of various neurological diseases.

His lab got the tissue 10 hours to three days after death. In every case, as well as with cells from a man who died at 72, researcher Theo Palmer was able to get some of the cells to divide and reproduce themselves, and to grow into different kinds of nervous system cells, Gage said.

Several other reports to the Society for Neuroscience are opening the field of stem cell research, and helping researchers bypass the ethical dilemmas involved with using human fetal tissues.

Another research team has shown skin can also supply brain stem cells, and with a bit of tweaking, so can bones.

Ira Black of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, grew brain cells from cells taken from bone marrow, where they ordinarily would have created bone, cartilage, muscle, tendon and fat cells.

He previously reported he and his colleagues turned 80 per cent of bone marrow cells taken from rats and humans into nerve cells. Additional work has brought that up to more than 99 percent, Black said.

But while Dr. Ronald D.G. McKay of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke calls the finds 'exciting,' he warns his findings are not yet solutions and may never be.

McKay and two colleagues warned there are big differences between stem cells from embryos, and those from adult tissue. They also said scientists don't yet know much about those differences.

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?category=Sci-Tech&story=/news/2000/11/06/stemcells001106

Written by CBC News Online staff

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U.S. gives go-ahead to human embryonic cell research

Last Updated Wed Aug 23 13:45:39 2000

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government on Wednesday released the guidelines that will allow the country's first federally-funded research using human embryonic stem cells.

The decision to allow such research is a controversial one because to get the cells, scientists must destroy human embryos.

But supporters say stem cells are key in the discovery of new medical treatments and cures.

The new guidelines set out the legal, ethical and scientific criteria the U.S. National Institutes of Health will use when it considers applications for federal funds to study human embryonic cells.

The research involves pluripotent stem cells. They're cells that can develop into most of the specialized cells and tissues of the body, such as muscle cells, nerve cells, liver cells and blood cells.

Scientists say stem cells have the potential to be used to repair ailing organs and damaged tissue, treat brain disorders, restore severed nerves in spinal injuries, or even grow new organs for transplant.

Until now, U.S. law has prevented government funds from being used to damage or destroy human embryos.

The NIH guidelines can be found on their Web site at www.nih.gov.

Last week, a panel of experts told the British government it should support research into therapeutic cloning, which uses embryonic stem cells.

But at least one member of Congress is opposed to all of this. Rep. Jay Dickey says, "We're talking about dismembering a living being."

Scientists admit they're dealing with a fertilized human egg but they say the embryo is only a week old and amounts to a tiny ball of cells.

ARCHIVED: August 16, 2000: UK scientists say human cloning should be allowed

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?category=Sci-Tech&story=/news/2000/08/23/usembryo000823

Written by CBC News Online staff

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Stem cell research year's biggest story: Science

Last Updated Thu Dec 16 11:34:54 1999

WASHINGTON - Research into converting stem cells into new body parts has been chosen as the "Breakthrough of the Year" by the editors of Science, the journal devoted to scientific and medical matters.

According to the latest edition of Science, to be released Friday, stem cell technology "raises hopes of dazzling medical applications."

Stem cells have been considered as a way to grow replacement parts for diseased hearts, livers and other organs. Stem cells can also be taken from adult tissue and converted to other cells, such as brain cells becoming blood cells.

Research into the use of embryonic stem cells to grow replacement body parts has been denounced by antiabortion groups who object to the use of human fetuses for this purpose.

Floyd E. Bloom, editor of Science, says in an editorial: "Although much remains to be done to convert today's results into tomorrow's treatments and tools, the likelihood of success seems high."

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?category=Sci-Tech&story=/news/1999/12/16/cell991216

Written by CBC News Online staff

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Canadian parents bank on cord blood

Last Updated Tue Dec 8 08:24:43 1998

TORONTO - Nearly 3,000 Canadian parents are using a hedge against future disease. They're banking their children's blood. But it's not just any blood; this is a sample from their baby's umbilical cord.

Some call storing cord blood a form of 'biological insurance'  

It's a procedure that's growing in popularity, but it isn't cheap. Having a child's cord blood stored costs at least $650 up front and $100 a year for storage.

But it could be priceless for some parents.

Like bone marrow, cord blood has a rich supply of stem cells. They're used in transplants to treat leukemia and other diseases. They're a perfect match for the child, should he or she develop problems later in life. And they could be a match for other family members.

The blood is frozen and stored at one of three clinics in Canada.

Some call it a form of biological insurance.

The cord blood is not screened for the number of potential problems that blood available to the public is. So it can only be used to help family members.

Dr. John Akabutu told CBC News: "The chances of being able to use that cord blood in the future are miniscule." He's set up Canada's first public bank for unrelated donors. It's free. Akabutu has approached the Canadian Blood Services about turning his Edmonton-based bank into a national registry. The service is looking into it.

http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?category=Canada&story=/news/1998/12/08/cord981208

Written by CBC News Online staff

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