Contact: Sue Nichols, University Relations, (517) 353-8942, nichols@msu.edu
4/12/2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. � In an outreach mission on a global scale, a Michigan State University scientist is to address United Nations national delegates Wednesday about the potential benefits of stem-cell research for therapeutic purposes.
Jose Cibelli, a professor of animal science and physiology, and internationally recognized expert on stem-cell research, has been tapped by an international group launching a campaign to thwart a U.N. ban on human stem-cell research for therapeutic purposes.
He is part of a briefing in Geneva organized by Italian members of the European Parliament and the Luca Coscioni Association for Freedom of Scientific Research and Treatment � a group of scientists and activists concerned that the international community would vote to ban such research.
The topic is hotly debated. In November, delegates in favor of a cloning ban lost by just one vote, 80-79. Now, led by Costa Rica, they appear ready to try again. General Assembly treaties are binding if countries decide to adopt them.
Stem cells have the ability to become any type of cell in the human body.
Proponents say they offer hope in cures for conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Parkinson�s and Alzheimer�s that affect millions worldwide.
Opponents argue that the embryo constitutes human life and are opposed to destroying embryos.
Cibelli�s research at MSU focuses on embryonic stem-cell cloning from animals, not humans, but his expertise steeps into all areas of cloning. In February, he helped validate groundbreaking research of scientists in Korea who created human embryos through cloning without fertilization. The results were published in the journal Science.
�We need to be able to do therapeutic cloning, to understand how the egg can turn the cells back in time, then we will be ready to do the same trick without relying on embryos� Cibelli said. �We can do it in animals, but there are many cases where animals are not good models. We have to allow therapeutic cloning in a legal framework. Now, it�s nobody�s land, and that�s bad.�
He is slated to be one of four speakers at the briefing, which will be followed by a press conference.
Cibelli says he sees his voice as one of science, not persuasion.
�I don�t talk ethics, I don�t talk politics,� he said. �I am there to say what was done and that it works.�