General Electric Co. (GE) has announced plans to partner with a U.S. Biotech company, Geron Corp., to test new drug treatments using human embryonic stem cells.
As part of the plan, GE will phase out its use of laboratory rats to test for drug safety. A spokesman for the company said the use of human tissues would be more efficient for testing potential side effects of experimental drugs. In a statement, the same spokesperson acknowledged the debate surrounding embryonic stem cells, but said: "We conduct our research in an ethically and scientifically responsible manner."
Dawn Vargo, bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said that is simply not possible with embryonic stem-cell studies.
"It's unfortunate that a company as large as GE has sunk to the level of using a form of research that always requires the destruction of human life," she said. "Research that could help treat human suffering should never come at the cost of sacrificing young human life."
She added she finds the partnership ironic since adult stem cells – which do not require ending nascent human life and are taken from sources like umbilical cord blood – have treated more than 70 diseases and conditions successfully, while embryonic stem-cell research has yet to cure anything in humans.
– Kim Trobee
