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Email: "UMBILICAL CELLS CALLED VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO HUMAN EMBRYOS"

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BY LifeSiteNews.com Montreal conference endorses 'ethical' alternativesMONTREAL, July 9, 2002 (LSN.ca) - Stem cells from umbilical cords are being recognized as an alternative to cells from human embryos in the treatment of several diseases and for restoring immune systems damaged by chemotherapy, delegates to an international blood conference said yesterday. Progress is also being made in England by researchers using umbilical-derived treatments on patients for whom bone-marrow treatments after chemotherapy have failed."Normally," says Dr. Denis-Claude Roy, a Montreal specialist, umbilical-cord cells "are thrown in the garbage, but now we can save lives" by making better use of them. He also told the conference: "The use of cord blood would allow us to solve some of the problems that are associated with the use of embryonic stem cells, and that definitely is a very important answer to the ethical problem." Dr. Roy says he's not opposed to research on embryonic stem cells, but has reservations. "I think it can be done within regulated, very strict guidelines," he said. "I also think there are various other options and investigators are pursuing each of these lines."Margaret Somerville, the McGill University ethics specialist, welcomed emerging alternatives to embryo experimentation. "We haven't exhausted the possibilities of not needing to use (embryonic cells) at all. ... Even the people who think we are justified in using them, very few of them think it's a morally neutral situation." To read coverage from England's Guardian newspaper see:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,751956,00.html http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/umbilical-cells-called-viable-alternative-to-human-embryos/

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