Smithies explains his support for embryonic stem cell research

This morning at 4.50am we were visited by two City of London police officers at the porch we have been sleeping in since 3 November 2006 – the first time since a City of London Police 'No sleeping' sign went up on the back wall of the porch two weeks ago, and which, according to the May issue of The Pavement, a free magazine for London’s homeless, gives police “permission to move on anyone found sleeping in a doorway” (see blog of 25 June “Police ‘No sleeping’ sign in the porch”). We were actually packing our bags to leave when the two police officers approached us: they want to have a chat to see if we are okay, PC 864C says. So the usual: that Declan has lodged a second request for priority to the European Court of Human Rights (see blog of 4 July “Second Request for Priority to the European Court”); that no, we can’t go into a hostel or apply for benefits because, first and foremost, Declan would have to withdraw his application to the European Court (see previous blog); and that we have a petition to the UN on therapeutic cloning which has been signed by 519 scientists and academics, including 22 Nobel laureates, and in respect of which, since yesterday, we are full on seeking contributions for an international campaign. Declan asked PC 864C to issue us a ticket but he wouldn’t, despite that the back of a ticket states that “you are entitled to a full copy of the record of the stop or search now unless wholly impracticable”. Never mind, at 6.25am, after Declan was woken by two more officers as he was in the middle of his usual half-hour snooze – in the church yard where he washes and shaves every morning (see blog of 10 April “Washing in the street”) – he got his ticket.

Smithies explains his support for embyonic stem cell research

On 27 June, CNN ran a piece on Nobel laureate Oliver Smithies entitled “Nobel scientist looks to the future”, which carries a story highlight “Smithies explains his support for human stem cell research”. (Smithies won the Nobel Prize for medicine last year – with Sir Martin Evans and Mario Capecchi – for developing gene targeting, a method of using embryonic stem cells to "knock out" genes in mice, then observing what goes wrong to determine any gene's normal function.)

In the CNN video “Smithies on embryonic stem cells”, Smithies explains that scientists have been using embryonic stem cells from mice for more than twenty years, but only relatively recently has it been possible to get cells of a comparable type from humans. "The human embryonic stem cell has been controversial for non-scientific reasons. It has been controversial because of people who have different views as to when life starts, and the religious consequences of working with these cells," he says. “I asked the ambassador to suggest to the president of the United States that we maybe have got this the wrong way round when we talk about when life begins in this respect. As far as embryonic stems cells are concerned, my position would be and my argument would be: When does life end?”

Smithies describes life as being continuous since it began. Evolution has made it more complex, he explains, but even so, simple structures such as human eggs and sperm are alive. And so are fertilized eggs. So in his view, if they are not needed by couples trying to have children using in-vitro fertilisation, discarding these eggs kills them. In his view, using them to create embryonic stem cells keeps them alive. Smithies argues:

How marvellous it would be to think that when one died, part of one’s being was used to help other people, and I think that the use of embryos which are not otherwise being used for helping other individuals must be rather marvellous to the donor of those embryo cells. So I would like people to think of it as the perpetuation of life not the destruction of life, because life was already in those cells.

I believe this is a winning argument against those who oppose such research (see blog of 23 June “US bishops condemn embryonic stem cell research”), and one that will be central to our campaign; in fact, as soon as this homeless business is over, Declan intends contacting Smithies to ask how we could elaborate on it: what aspect(s) of evolution do we need to address?

Besides the hotly contested presidential election, Michigan voters will most likely vote in November on a ballot proposal that would loosen restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. Currently, excess embryos from procedures such as in-vitro fertilisation are discarded as medical waste. If the proposal is passed, however, people will be given a choice to donate their excess embryos for research. "Under existing state law, it is legal to throw embryos away, but it's not legal to use them for research," said Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan's Center for Stem Cell Biology. Penalties for destroying one embryo for the purpose of research can reach up to $1 million in fines and 10 years in prison, he said.

Embryonic stem cell research is already going on in the corporate and private sectors, said John Ruckdeschel of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Cancer Center in Detroit. "I would rather have it out in the open in our universities, under appropriate guidelines," he said. "We need to come out of the Stone Age on this."

"The choice that will face Michigan voters is this: Do we take these thousands of stem cells and dump them into the trash, or do we devote them to the research that can bring cures to serious diseases and serious injuries?" said Larry Owen, chairman of CureMichigan, and former member of the Michigan State University board of trustees.

Right now Michigan is one of only five states to ban the use of discarded embryos for medical research (the others: South Dakota, North Dakota, Louisiana and Arkansas), but not everyone wants to see things change: a coalition group called Michigan Citizens Against Unrestricted Science and Experimentation (MI-CAUSE), which includes the Michigan Catholic Conference and Right to Life of Michigan, oppose the proposal because embryonic stem cell research “is a direct assault on innocent human life”. It is interesting that Jewish views hold that human embryonic stem cell research entails no moral issue since genetic (ie, embryonic) materials are not even part of a human being until implanted in a womb. And some US Protestant denominations have expressed support for hES cell research, including the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ.

Declan still recuperating

Declan is now getting over his “viral infection”. Gone are the sweats and the shivers and the fever, the only remaining symptom is the headache. When last Friday we returned to the Royal London Hospital (where he was hospitalised from 2-4 October but only treated with Paracetamol tablets and a fan one afternoon to reduce his temperature), he was told he had been discharged and that if he had problems he should go to the hospital’s Walk-In Centre. And what of Declan’s temperature of 39.1C, which had been taken by me with one of the hospital’s own 3M Tempa Dot Single Use Clinical Thermometers? Well, they are apparently quite unreliable things.

So a combination of Paracetamol and the Ibuprofen and Codeine Declan obtained on Friday afternoon from Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), as well as almost total inactivity during the weekend, has more or less done the trick – at 9.00am on Saturday, when we were waiting for the Idea Store Whitechapel library to open, Declan’s face was colourless and big drops of sweat dripped from everywhere, really.

I was a bit worried early this morning because we were on our respective pitches at Liverpool Street Station selling The Big Issue and it was raining – Declan got sick after rain got through the bottom of his runners and wet his socks – but no, it looks like the infection is nearly over. It wouldn’t be thanks to the clothes that the Sisters of Mercy-run Dellow Centre gave me yesterday though. First, on Friday morning I was told by the nun in charge of clothes to come back on Monday, and on Monday she handed me an almost empty bag (I haven’t asked her for anything since 11 April and of course I don’t have to dig deep in my memory to remember why). I suspect I am wasting my time having another bash at asking for more clothes – so things on that front are a bit tricky. But perhaps not tricky enough: last night the alarm of the porch we sleep in at night flashed a blue light all night.

On Saturday, Declan wrote to the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights in further reference to his application of 8 September and with particular regard to his urgent request for expedition of the same date:

Application no. 22541/07
Heavey v. the United Kingdom

                                RULE 41-URGENT

Dear Sir/Madam

In further reference to my urgent request for expedition under Rule 41 of the European Convention on Human Rights made on 8 September 2007 (with particular regard to the reasons cited for the necessity of expedition), I enclose for the attention of the Court copy of Discharge Summary Report of 4 October 2007 from the Royal London Hospital certifying that I was admitted on 2 October with a viral infection.

I also enclose copy of prescription of 5 October 2007 from Medecins du Monde UK for Ibuprofen 400mg for 4 weeks and Codeine Phosphate 30mg for 1 week.

I also re-enclose copy of my letter and enclosures of 22 September 2007 to Chief Superintendent Ken Stewart of Bishopsgate Police Station regarding my (illegal) begging and severe assault on my wife.

I beg to again point out that under the heading “Necessity of expedition”, the aforementioned urgent request for expedition of 8 September states the following:

An urgent expedition is necessary in this instance because of the violations of the applicant's human rights already existing and are likely to be even greater. The right that will be violated is the right to private and family life by the threat to the applicant of being severely assaulted, becoming seriously ill and/or being reduced to begging. This would constitute a threat of irreparable and serious harm. Being reduced to begging is a threat that is imminent given that the applicant’s savings have already been exhausted.

Yours faithfully

Declan Heavey

Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies of the United States and Sir Martin Evans of Britain won the Nobel Medicine Prize yesterday for their research with stem cells. Their discoveries on embryonic stem cells developed a technology called gene targeting in mice that can inactive genes, providing information on their roles in various diseases. They can change any gene, disabling or enabling it. The manipulations are carried out in embryonic stem cells, then it's reintroduced to the mouse, where it's incorporated by the germ cells – sperm and eggs – so that the desired change is reliably passed on to a new generation of mice. Evans is widely credited with the discovery of embryonic stem cells.

In relation to NAC’s campaign for embryonic stem cell research, I am still doing my research but getting quite close to figuring out the campaign’s first take action. Declan and I are particularly taken by the work and accomplishments of Italian Luca Coscioni, who, before dying of amiotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2006 at the age of 39, had received the support of 96 Nobel Laureates in his appeal in support of freedom of scientific research. Portuguese Nobel Laureate in Literature, José Saramago, wrote to Coscioni:

Perhaps the support of a mere writer like me might be rather out of place in the list of renowned scientists who, by means of their names and their prestige, have put a seal on the statements made by Luca Coscioni in his letter of 20 March, so clear and moving. In any case, you are welcome to use my name. So that the light of reason and of human respect may illuminate the gloomy spirits of those who still believe, and will always believe, that they are the masters of our destiny. We had been waiting a long time for the day to dawn, we were tired of waiting, but suddenly the courage of a man struck dumb by a terrible disease gave us new strength. Thank you for this.