That’s not to state that legislation has to promote science or progress in order for research to proceed. The Irish government could take notes from the neat side-stepping of the issues by the US Bush-based government earlier this millennium.
US and them
Carefully aware of the conservative Christian basis of his vote, the then President of the US, George Bush, passed a series of legislation aimed to reduce embryonic stem cell research. Essentially the 1996 Dickey-Whicker law, named after the two republican US senators who proposed it, prohibited the use of federal dollars on any research that harmed or destroyed a human embryo. In effect this meant that all other researchers, such as those in private industry, or using funds from non-profit groups were free to use the embryonic stem cells. Whistle-blowing in the wind When the Obama administration took If a researcher was to take a few of their funding over in 2009, they said they would appeal the euros, purchase a new Ferrari, then invent data Dickey-Whicker law and as of July this year, In Ireland there based on imaginary experiments you’d be a little the US Circuit Court of Appeals sided with are no safeguards annoyed. But what could you do about it? Not the administration and overturned the Dickymuch actually. Because currently, not only do we Whicker injunction on stem cell research. against fraud in lack legislation on stem cells for example, but we The director of the National Institutes of research and there also lack a national oversight body for research. Health — the US version of our HRB, said “this are no ethical This means there is no national entity that a ruling will help ensure this groundbreaking researcher can report fraudulent or scientific research can continue to move forward.” This guidelines that misconduct to. new open climate of research in the US has now scientists can follow In the US for example they have what is attracted some of our leading lights in stem known as the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) cell research such as Stephen Sullivan who was which serves as a watch-dog across the country founding director and CSO of the Irish Stem Cell and ensures that people who use public funds do so in an Foundation. appropriate way. In Ireland we don’t have a similar oversight body. That’s not to say we have had any high profile incidences Stemming cell research of scientific fraud. Although that that’s a little like saying we That’s not to say we have no prominent scientists doing stem have no criminal problems, because we lack a judicial system to cell research at the moment. In fact there is a center for stem cell incriminate them….. research in Galway, the REMEDI institute, and there are several Not only is oversight useful from an ethical standpoint but SFI funded scientists using non-embryonic stem cell lines. also an economic one. So much so that even the Organization One of these researchers, SFI and HRB funded Dr Gavin for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stated Davey of Trinity College Neuroscience Institute Dublin, is that “at a time when scientific advances are considered to be trying to use what are termed Inducible Pleuripotent Cells (iPS critical in areas such as economic competitiveness, health, cells), to generate new neurons that could provide treatments national security and environmental protection, public officials for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. are strongly motivated — indeed obligated — to ensure the iPS cells are essentially normal adult blood cells or highest levels of integrity in research.” fibroblasts. They can be reprogrammed using advanced technologies to generate other different types of cells. By taking cells from people with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Saving our brains for the future When people talk about brain banks, you may imagine garish or Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis, for example the hope is to ghouls wandering around dark corridors mumbling about generate neurons, and then use them to study how the diseases their need for brains. Brain banking is however a far cry from work, and how the cells respond to toxins and treatments. You Hammer horror flicks. may wonder if we already have stem cell research in Ireland, The purpose of storing and analysing brains from people then why all the brouhaha regarding legislation? who had brain diseases is simply to help doctors understand where and how brain illnesses occur. In fact, many of the major Cash or store credit? brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease Imagine it’s your birthday. You are twelve years old, and have can only be identified by looking in the brains of the person no steady income. You receive an envelope in the post from a who had the disease. It’s important to understand which areas wealthy relative. Seconds later you’ve torn it open, shaken out of the brain are hit, and how they have been hit in diseases. the birthday card. 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