Opponent of ES cell research broadens attack

Embryonic stem cell research opponent Senator Ron Boswell has this week widened his criticism of the CEO-designate of the National Stem Cell Centre (NSCC), Prof Alan Trounson, to include other high-profile members of the biotech community.

During Senate debate on stem cell legislation, Boswell repeated earlier allegations about perceived misrepresentations by Trounson and suggested that other leading bioscience luminaries could be guilty of conflicts of interest.

The assertions have brought spirited denials.

In the Senate on November 12, Boswell claimed to have found "a pattern of research funding decisions that raises serious questions of conflict of interest.

"I believe there is sufficient evidence to warrant the investigation of a number of recent grants," he said.

Boswell, the National Party's leader in the Senate, used the debate to repeat earlier claims of alleged misrepresentations by Trounson of scientific and financial issues.

He claimed a company search found that 200,000 shares in stem cell company ES Cell International were held in trust for Trounson by Monash University after the scientist said he had divested himself of all shareholdings.

Boswell added fresh allegations that Trounson had shares in other companies that could potentially benefit from association with the stem cell centre.

He also sketched interlocking sets of relationships between various individuals with positions on both funding bodies and commercial organisations which he claimed gave rise to serious questions about the use of public funding for "the commercial goals of some well-connected investor scientists."

In his comments about potential conflicts of interest, Boswell took aim at:

• Geoffrey Vaughan, a director of stem cell company BresaGen and chairman of a funding panel,
• NSCC chairman Bob Moses, and
• Peter Jonson, chairman of the panel of experts which awarded the Federal government's $46.5 million Biotechnology Centre of Excellence funding to the NSCC.

Boswell noted that Jonson was a former chairman of ANZ Funds Management and that ANZ had a stake in BresaGen, a company which stands to benefit from the NSCC grant in which Jonson was involved.

Jonson has responded with a letter to the President of the Senate, Paul Calvert, stating that "careful and explicit attention is paid to avoiding actual or potential conflicts of interests" in Commonwealth processes.

The letter denied any conflicts had occurred in the matters raised by Boswell and said Jonson had had "no past commercial relationships with Prof Trounson, Dr Geoffrey Vaughan or Mr Bob Moses."

Meanwhile, on November 14 the Senate passed the Prohibition of Human Cloning Bill 2002, with debate on the more controversial Research into Human Embryonic Stem Cell Bill 2002 due to resume on December 2.

The cloning prohibition bill was pushed through after Justice and Customs Minister Chris Ellison promised the government would move quickly to plug a possible loophole in the bill.

Ellison told Parliament that customs regulations would be amended to block the import of human cloning material including stem cells derived from human embryo clones.

The new regulations will pre-empt suggested amendments to the human cloning bill by Tasmanian independent Senator Brian Harradine, who said failure to bar such imports would undermine the whole purpose of the cloning ban.