STEM CELL CENTRAL.

This article discusses the use of stem cells in treatments for Parkinson's disease in Canada. Peter Sauer felt his life slipping away. In 1994, doctors diagnosed Sauer, then 59, with Parkinson's disease, a cruel brain disorder that progressively robs sufferers of the ability to move or function normally. Salvation came in the form of a pioneering cell transplant program overseen by Ivar Mendez, head of neurosurgery at Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. Starting in 2001, Mendez began transplanting brain cells from fetal tissue into the brains of 10 Parkinson's patients who hadn't responded to other therapies. Mendez is now leading a nationwide research project aimed at developing stem cells from adult skin, bone marrow and brain, and training them to do on a mass scale what the fetal brain cells did for a lucky few. A handful of similar high-end research is underway in the United States and Britain. But Canada's efforts may be more focused in that Ottawa is using its funding clout to help link the work of 80 leading scientists in information-sharing, multi-city teams, something it calls the Stem Cell Network. Among other things, scientists are exploring the seemingly limitless potential of stem cells to repair damaged brains, spinal cords and hearts, as well as to treat a host of debilitating conditions such as diabetes, blood disorders and Alzheimer's. None of this research is without controversy, of course. In the U.S. in particular, stem cell research is a hot-button issue that has reached right to the heart of presidential campaigns. Critics argue that because any human embryo has the potential to be a living being, destroying one in the name of science is morally wrong.