Get it together on stem cells, warns Macfarlane

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane last night warned scientists that the real threat to the future of stem cell research in Australia was because of researchers' conflicting goals.

Speaking at the AusBiotech 2002 conference dinner in Melbourne, Macfarlane said that while he was a supporter of the legislation currently before Parliament, he had been listening to scientists' submissions on stem cell research for the last four months and it was time to reverse the roles.

"The immediate future of biotechnology in Australia depends on two central relationships - your relationship with the general community and your partnership with individuals in the Federal Parliament," he said.

"Both these relationships appear to be cracking at the seams at critical time in the legislative debate."

Macfarlane said the biotech community "hadn't even pulled its boots on" with regard to stem cell research, but was already trying to move the goalposts by throwing ideas like therapeutic cloning into the mix. "Tangents like that create further unnecessary division within the industry and it confuses the public, which is trying to understand the original issue," he said.

The debate, he said, had swung from hard science - where scientists had both a strong foundation and, he believed, a moral advantage - to science "of the heart, where your opponents have the competitive advantage."

"Don't lose control of the political debate," he said. "Do not think that because debate is now underway the legislation is comfortably tucked into the national agenda and on its way to a satisfactory conclusion. I can guarantee that there are people who will use all manner of manipulations to see the bill watered down and finally dismissed."

Macfarlane said awarding the Biotechnology Centre of Excellence funding grant to the stem cell and tissue repair bid was an expression of confidence on the government's part.

Debate continues

Meanwhile, Federal MPs yesterday began arguing the Research Involving Embryos and Prohibition of Human Cloning Bill 2002 in the House of Representatives.

MPs on both sides of the house have been given permission to vote their conscience on the issue. Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, who opposes the legislation, questioned whether there was any "realistic chance" of clinically viable therapies derived from embryonic stem cells.

The bill is expected to pass through the Lower House, but is tipped to meet resistance in the Senate.