L'ultimo numero di The Lancet pubblica un Call for Papers del
direttore Richard Horton sulle cellule staminali di orgine umana, per
contribuire al dibattito sulle potenzialità della medicina
rigenerativa.

Speriamo che tutta la medicina e la scienza italiane risponda
all'appello di Lancet contribuendo con la propria ricerca e con le
proprie idee e posizioni.

professor Enzo Reale

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The Lancet

Volume 362, Number 9398 29 November 2003

Human stem-cell research for medicine: call for papers

Earlier this month the UN announced that it had been unable to reach
an agreement about whether to ban reproductive cloning, therapeutic
cloning, or both.1 At the suggestion of Iran it deferred the decision
for 2 years. On one level this postponement might seem to be a
failure; in fact it is a pragmatic opportunity for those on both
sides of the debate to gather their arguments for and against stem-
cell research. Just before the UN debate more than 60 of the world's
scientific academies called for a ban on reproductive cloning, while
at the same time supporting therapeutic cloning.

However, the societies acknowledged that the different views on the
use of early human embryos for any research made consensus
difficult.2

A glance at a few recent news items reveals that the world is in
disarray over what to do with this technology. The UK is one of only
a few countries to have clearly stated its position by passing a law
which prohibits reproductive cloning while allowing therapeutic
cloning to proceed--albeit heavily regulated. The first new stem-cell
line has been derived following this legislation, and it will be
assessed and deposited in the UK Stem Cell Bank.3

Therapeutic cloning technology has immense possibilities to do good
for human health, yet it remains tainted by association with
reproductive cloning, which, not least because of the inherent
dangers involved of producing a malformed child, some scientists have
argued is both scientifically and morally wrong.

To encourage this vigorous debate, The Lancet will be publishing an
issue on stem cells in the middle of 2004; we are therefore calling
not only for primary research papers on all types of human stem
cells, embryonic and adult, but also for papers that shed new light
on the wider implications of such research for public health and
ethics.

*Virginia Barbour, Richard Horton

1 Bosch X. UN delays ban on human cloning Lancet 2003; 362: 1636.

2 Royal Society. Royal Society backs international call to UN to ban
human reproductive cloning. Sept 22, 2003: http://www.royalsoc.ac.
uk/news <http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/news> (accessed Nov 24, 2003).

3 BBC News. UK human embryonic stem cell first. http://news.bbc.co.
uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3144925.stm
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3144925.stm> (accessed Nov 19,
2003).