Stem cell support continues, but public understanding still basic

Public support for the use of stem cells and gene therapies has increased in Australia, and support for cloning humans remains low, according to a survey conducted by commonwealth agency Biotechnology Australia.

Results of the annual study were announced by manager of public awareness for Biotechnology Australia, Craig Cormick, at the Human Genetics Society of Australasia conference in Newcastle this week.

"The understanding of stem cell technologies in general is very good, but understanding complexities of the debate such as therapeutic cloning and the definition of an embryo versus a foetus is still somewhat confused," said Cormick.

More than 1000 people participated in the survey, which showed that support for embryonic stem cell research has risen from 53 per cent to 65 per cent over the past four years whilst acceptance of adult stem cell research has risen from 70 per cent to 78 per cent over the same period.

"While about 82 per cent of people believe that stem cell technologies will improve our way of life in the future, about 70 per cent have developed expectations that this will happen in the next five years. We're not sure why people think this, perhaps they have been over promised in the past," he said.

Human cloning continues to have little acceptance with support at just 8 per cent, unchanged from when the survey was first conducted in 2002.

"Stem cells are still seen as something therapeutic, where as cloning is seen as unknown with no societal outcomes -- it crosses peoples' moral boundaries," said Cormick.

The study also found that awareness of stem cell applications was far higher than the understanding of stem cell applications, and that perceptions of benefits outweighed the perceptions of risks -- such as using stem cells to treat diseases, which was rated as beneficial by 87 per cent of those surveyed.

The use of stem cells to treat disease, particularly breast cancer, heart disease and schizophrenia, has continued support at 70 per cent, however, there is little approval for using the technology to increase a child's intelligence (13 per cent) or for making a child's weight more average (27 per cent). Yet support for genetic testing of unborn children has risen over the past four years from 54 per cent to 67 per cent.

The main concerns identified with embryonic stem cells were 'destroying a life to save a life', 'playing God' and 'depends on the source of the stem cells'. "When people have concerns about stem cells they are now able to be more specific about what they are," said Cormick.

The findings were based on two separate studies undertaken by the independent research companies Market Attitude Research Services and Eureka Strategic Research. The MARS study has tracked attitudes over four years, and the Eureka study has looked at more complex attitudes in relation to other uses of biotechnology and involved both a phone poll and focus groups.