Brumby wants therapeutic cloning ban lifted

Victorian treasurer and minister for innovation, John Brumby, has called on the federal government to lift its ban on somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), otherwise known as therapeutic cloning.

Brumby told the Lockhart legislation review committee that while the Victorian government "unequivocally supports the continued ban on reproductive cloning", he would "strongly recommend to the federal government that legislation be extended to allow somatic cell nuclear transfer".

SCNT is a technique whereby an embryo is created by removing the nucleus of an egg and replacing it with the nucleus of a donor somatic cell.

Brumby made his submissions to the chair of the legislation review committee, retired Federal Court judge John Lockhart, and two other members of the committee, neuroscientist Prof Peter Schofield, and clinical ethicist and specialist haematologist Assoc Prof Ian Kerridge.

The independent committee has been appointed to review Australia's federal stem cell legislation, the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 and the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002, and is holding public consultations around the country, including meetings in Melbourne today and yesterday.

SCNT can be used to create a source of individually tailored embryonic stem cells, said Brumby, and use of this technique "offers the greatest hope for realising the benefits of stem cell research in the short term, particularly in drug discovery and the identification of patients that can respond to a particular medicine."

Brumby said that without SCNT, "Australia risks losing its hard-won, leading stem cell status".

"Already other countries are drawing ahead of us, in an area in which we were unquestionably the leader and in many regards still continue to lead research," he said.

Allowing SCNT in a robust regulatory environment, similar to that which exists in the UK where this technique is legal, "would provide the Australian scientific community with access to enormous medical potential and the strategic advantages of this technology," said Brumby.

Public funds justified

Brumby also told the committee that his governments' funding of stem cell research is an "extraordinary worthwhile and judicious use of taxpayers' money".

"I'm an innovation minister, and I'm also a treasurer. I've got to balance out a budget and what we spend. I don't have an issue about this at all," he said. "There's an argument to say we're only doing a small amount in this area now, and we can do much, much more in the future."

The Victorian government has made a submission to the Lockhart review. Brumby said he did not consider any of the government's proposals to be controversial. "I don't see this as a 'high-risk' proposition," he said. "I think benefits far, far, far outweigh any of the risks or costs."

In its submission, the Victorian government advocated that a moratorium, under which only embryos left over from IVF before April 5, 2002 could be used in research, should not be renewed.

"We think that the NHMRC licensing arrangements have worked very well to date, and we do have a strict regulatory regime which is now in place," said Brumby. "With safeguards to reassure that community that research is conducted in an ethical manner, the Victorian government submits that there should be no reintroduction of restriction of access to surplus assisted reproductive technologies."

According to the Victorian government, the importing and exporting of embryos and stem cells is outside the scope of the stem cell legislation. If changes in this area are legislatively considered, these should be made through Australian customs legislation with advice from the Australian Health Ethics Committee, said Brumby.

Brumby also said that: "we favour the establishment of a national stem cell bank and we believe that if such a bank was to be established, the logical place for that would be in Melbourne based at the Major National Research Facility."

Public attitudes

Brumby said that based on face-to-face contact, emails and telephone calls with the public there is an "extraordinarily high degree of support for stem cell research and the further liberalisation of research to allow for further breakthroughs in the big scientific and disease areas."

He said he believed public support was even higher than figures obtained in recent studies by Commonwealth agency Biotechnology Australia, which found that support for embryonic stem cell research has increased from 52 per cent to 65 per cent over the past four years.

"Politicians are not always right but we're usually pretty good barometers," he said.

The media had a role to play in helping to increase public understanding and acceptance of the science, Brumby said.

"Australians have always been very good at embracing new ideas and new technologies," he said. "We've been great supporters of new innovation and new scientific research. We've approached these things with an open mind about the good they can do for the community."