News

By Hilary White

TORONTO, October 26, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canada’s stem cell and cloning law is proving to be loose enough to attract one of the world’s most prominent researchers in the field of unethical embryonic stem cell research to move from the U.S. to Canada to take advantage of the situation.

Dr. Gordon Keller is considered one of the leading lights in embryonic stem cell research and will take up his post as Director of the University Health Network’s McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine in January.

The Toronto Star reports that Keller, who hails originally from Saskatchewan, specifically credited Canada’s more lax laws on embryo research as a main motivation for his making the move from New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine where he was professor of gene and cell medicine.

The Star quoted Dr. Christopher Paige, vice president of research at the University Health Network, saying, “He has been a mover and shaker in this field for years. He probably has the best track record in the world at developing different kinds of tissues from human embryonic stem cells.”

During the debates on Canada’s stem cell legislation, pro-life lobbyists were ridiculed in the House of Commons for insisting that the Canadian legislation would put Canada into the position of being one of the most unregulated countries in the world.

In media releases, briefs and lengthy papers, the pro-life lobby group Campaign Life Coalition showed that the language in which the legislation’s prohibitions and restrictions were couched would allow nearly any type of embryonic research, including cloning, to go on without restriction.

MP’s on both sides of the debate, however, were equally insistent that the proposed law was “balanced” equitably between “respecting” human life and allowing research to go forward.

See related LifeSiteNews reports:

Canadian Reproductive Technologies Bill Passes Tuesday Evening 149-109
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/oct/03102801.html

Quick Summary of Canadian Stem Cell Bill C-6, Formerly C-13
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/feb/04022602.html