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UK to open first stem bank
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August 13, 2001: 2:49 a.m. ET
Report: Britain to open world's first bank for stems cells from embryos
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LONDON (CNN) - Britain is to open the world's first embryo stem cell bank, giving it an edge on research for tissue transplantation, a news report said.
The move will give UK scientists a "significant" edge over their U.S. counterparts, the Wall Street Journal reported. President George W. Bush has imposed various restrictions on the activities of federally funded researchers.
Bush said last week he would allow federal funding of research using 60 existing stem cell lines created from human embryos destroyed in the process, meaning the life and death decision on them has already been made.
The UK stem cell bank would allow academics and companies unlimited access to a limitless number of stem cell lines, the paper said. Scientists believe stem cells offer hope for cures to diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
"The stem-cell bank should be set up in about a year," Dr. Robert Lovell-Badge, an embryologist at the Medical Research Council, who is involved in the project, was quoted as saying in the WSJ.
Cell banks already exist in the U.S. and Europe for mature tissue but the British bank, which currently has no funding, will hold master stem cells obtained from human embryos. These cells have the ability to develop into brain, nerve, heart and other tissue.
Britain, which gave the world the first test tube baby in 1978, the first stem cells derived from mice and the first cloned mammal. The decision to set up the stem cell bank is seen as enhancing the country's reputation as an attractive place for scientific research.
Researchers are allowed to develop their own stem-cell lines provided they get regulatory permission first. Britain passed new legislation in January to allow the controversial "therapeutic cloning" procedure, the untested harvesting of stem cells obtained from human embryos that are cloned. Many lawmakers in the U.S., Germany, France and other European countries are oppose use of the technique, the report said. 
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