Thursday, October 20, 2011

European Court outlaws patents on embryonic stem cell techniques

1:09 AM | Posted by Free Game Zone | | Edit Post

ban to stifle investment in research on potential stem cell treatments for diseases such as dementia, scientists say

Search

in new therapies for incurable and fatal have suffered a stroke with a European court ruling that the procedures that the use of embryonic stem cells can be patented.

older scientists were dismayed by the decision Tuesday, patents on techniques to outlaw embryonic stem cells involves the destruction. They fear that hinder research and stifle business investment.

medical researchers around the world of stem cell use from stores created from surplus IVF embryos. These embryos are donated by couples who have completed their fertility treatment and would otherwise be destroyed by the clinical routine.

The unique ability of embryonic stem cells to become any tissue of the body has led scientists to investigate whether it can regenerate damaged organs and sick, and treat problems ranging from blindness and dementia with paralysis.

Sir Ian Wilmut, who led the team that cloned Dolly the sheep, said the decision was "very regrettable".

"It is, unfortunately, it will be less likely that European companies are investing in research to develop treatments using embryonic stem cells to treat human diseases," he said.

Wilmut, director of the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University, added: "Unfortunately, this test may mean that the original research conducted in Europe, some European funds is more likely to be developed and used in other parts of the world. "

The decision of the European Court of Justice is a legal clarification of a case brought by Greenpeace against a German scientist, Brüstle Oliver, who has patented a way to turn stem cells into healthy cells of the the brain. The environmental group argued that the work Brüstle was "contrary to public policy" because the embryos were destroyed to obtain stem cells used.

The trial effectively supports the views of Greenpeace, and imposes a ban on the patenting of research using embryonic stem cells is considered an immoral "industrial" use of human embryos.
  • Brüstle, director of the Institute of Neurobiology at the University of reconstructive Bonn, said the decision "erased" by years of research by scientists of stem cells in Europe. Other defendants in the trial to see progress in Europe operated in the United States and elsewhere.
  • Austin Smith, director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research at the University of Cambridge, said the decision left to European scientists in a "ridiculous position".
"We're funded to do research for the public good, however, prevented from taking our findings on the market where they could develop new drugs. One consequence is that the benefits of our research collection in North America and Asia, "he said.

The court was necessary to clarify three issues arising from the vague wording of the directive on biotechnology in the EU. These include the definition of an embryo, if scientific research is "to industrial or commercial purposes" and whether the procedures that embryonic stem cells are patentable indirectly.


See more about : [European][Davies][Lawford][Denoon][Alex][Oliver][Greenpeace]

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Blog Archive

Blogger Template created with Artisteer.