Stem cell research in The Bahamas could be a good thing and help save lives if it is carried out in the proper manner, according to a leading physician who appeared as the special guest on the radio Love 97 programme ﾓJones and Companyﾒ Sunday.
However, Dr. Ada Thompson, a general practitioner, suggested the government inspect the IAT Immuno Augmentative Therapy Bahamas Ltd. in Freeport, to ensure that stems cells were harvested from the umbilical cord of newborn babies and not aborted fetuses.
ﾓIf it is true that those cells came from the umbilical cord of a baby and the baby was not hurt and the mother was not hurt, (as is being claimed by the IAT director) then yes I think it was a good thing that they helped those people,ﾒ Dr. Thompson said.
ﾓThey did not destroy any embryo to harvest those cells and so I would not have a problem with the use of stem cells to treat diseases.ﾒ
She added: ﾓYou canﾴt put the genie back in the bottle, but you can put in place some strictures, some rules, some regulations so that science does not run away with you completely.ﾒ
Last Thursday, Health Minister Dr. Marcus Bethel said The Bahamas was not ﾓa playgroundﾒ for unapproved stem cell research.
This came after he suspended all stem cell procedures taking place in the Bahamas. The Ministry said it only had evidence that such work was being conducted at the Freeport clinic.
The revelation that IAT was conducting such work came in an exclusive Bahama Journal investigative series that revealed that foreigners were coming to the Bahamas for stem cell treatments that are illegal in the United States.
In an earlier interview with the Journal, Dr. John Clement, medical director at IAT, said stem cells used at his Freeport clinic were drawn from the umbilical cord blood of mothers at the Rand Memorial Hospital.
He said $100 was given to each mother as a ﾓgiftﾒ for the babiesﾴ blood.
At least four American children have received stem cell treatments at the Centre, one of whom is a five-year-old Michigan girl who suffers from a rare and severe neurological defect. The other children are afflicted with Cerebral Palsy.
ﾓ[Stem cells] are not differentiated into any particular organ or tissue, but they have potential, if they continue to divide, to develop into muscle, brain, heart, bone and lung,ﾒ Dr. Thompson explained.
ﾓThe same way DNA is the building block of a molecule, the stem cell is the building block of human tissue. In the first couple of days the cells are capable of developing into any type of cells, as long as they stay together and subdivide, they then become the nucleus of a human being.ﾒ
The controversy stems from the fact, that some researchers harvest the genetic material from aborted fetuses.
Dr. Thompson said she endorses the practice of stem cells harvested from umbilical cords but not from embryos. She believes the moment a sperm and egg unite a human being is formed ﾓand in order to harvest cells from that you have to kill it.ﾒ
ﾓIt (stem cell research) is open to abuse if there are not guidelines put in place,ﾒ she said. ﾓIt is a good thing to make laws, but then you have to see that the laws are enforced, which means you have to go in and inspect.ﾒ
Dr. Thompson added: ﾓYou have to look at laboratories and you have to find out the source of their stem cells. Are they coming from embryos? Are they coming from umbilical cord or are they coming from the human blood?ﾒ
Dr. Thompson pointed out that there is a dangerous aspect of stem cell treatment that many people do not realize.
ﾓStem cells have the ability to reproduce,ﾒ she said. ﾓYou can get many, many cells out of a stem cell. The pathogenesis of cancer, for example, is cells that reproduce, crazily. They keep on reproducing, where do you stop stem cells, when you put them in?ﾒ
With such a proliferation of cells, she queried whether, stem cell treatments could lead to a new type of cancer.
Dr. Thompson said governments sometime have to make choices that ﾓgo against the flow,ﾒ when it comes to drafting legislation to keep up with modern times.
Last week, Dr. Bethel said the Bahamas government is considering drafting legislation to regulate stem cell work in the Bahamas.
Tosheena Robinson-Blair, The Bahama Journal
