SWITZERLAND: Voters in Switzerland yesterday appeared to have approved the world's first referendum to allow scientists to experiment on stem cells taken from human embryos, in a move which will deepen the division between Europe and the US over the use of such research.
According to opinion polls last night, more than two-thirds of Swiss voters backed the proposal, which supporters say could eventually lead to a cure for incurable diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes.
Switzerland's Green Party and an alliance of conservative Christian groups had both campaigned for a No vote in the referendum.
In the run-up to the US presidential election, President George Bush and John Kerry clashed over the issue, with Mr Kerry saying he would make it easier for stem-cell research to take place, if elected. Mr Bush banned the use of public money for stem-cell research during his first term in office.
The UK, by contrast, has fewer restrictions than most other countries and is on its way to becoming the world's leading stem-cell pioneer.
Earlier this year the first ever cell bank opened in Hertfordshire.
The new Swiss law is stricter than in some other European countries and prohibits the use of cells older than seven days.
The Swiss government argued that it needed to dump its existing ban on stem-cell research to keep up with rival scientific centres like the UK.
An alliance of Roman Catholic, Protestant and other groups, however, said that removing stem cells from human embryos amounted to killing people, even though the embryos would die anyway.
"We find ourselves in a new situation which demands new answers," Mr Felix Gutzwiller, a Swiss MP and supporter of the new law, told the Neue Zurcher Zeitung before the poll. "We can't renounce international developments. We are still world leaders in biomedicine. We have to bear in mind that other countries, especially England, have invested very much money in stem-cell research."
Ms Maya Graff, however, a Green MP, said she was dismayed by the Yes campaigners, who campaigned under the slogan: "Hope". She claimed it was unethical.
Under Switzerland's system of direct democracy, voters are frequently consulted on numerous topics through referendums.
The Swiss government has made it clear that the new law prohibits human cloning or the creation of embryos exclusively for the purpose of stem-cell research. Parents also need to give their written consent before the cells can be used, while an ethics committee has to approve every scientific project.
The issue has not just pitted Europe against Washington but has also divided the EU. Sweden, Finland, Greece and the Netherlands permit stem-cell research, as well as Britain. Germany, Austria and Italy, however, are strongly against. Medical Council guidelines in the Republic of Ireland prohibit medical practitioners from carrying out research on stem cells.
Stem cells are the body's master cells that can grow into almost any of hundreds of different tissues. They offer new possibilities for scientists because they can in theory be turned into any one of the 220 types of tissues in the human body. The hope is that scientists will be able to control the cells artificially to produce specific tissues, which can in turn replace cells that have been damaged.
The science remains controversial because removing stem cells prevents an embryo from growing into a human being. For this reason, it is strongly opposed by religious groups, who in America are traditional supporters of the Republican party.