It is difficult to predict the outcome of the discussions taking place at the Sixth Commission (legal commission) of the United Nations General Assembly on the International Convention on Cloning. Those in favour of banning only so-called reproductive cloning (around twenty countries behind Belgium) are opposing those in favour of a complete ban on all forms of cloning (around sixty countries behind Costa Rica).

Belgium's proposal has changed slightly compared to last year. It proposes banning reproductive cloning and is now encouraging countries to legislate nationally on therapeutic cloning.

France has rallied to Belgium's position even though its own legislation forbids therapeutic cloning. It explains this move by the need to be effective in achieving a minimum consensus.

The United Kingdom, in accordance with its legislation which authorises therapeutic cloning, and China firmly reiterated their position in favour of therapeutic cloning.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OCI), through its official representative, Turkey, called for a consensus on the issue but did not indicate its position. However, on an individual basis, Turkey has indicated that it is in favour of Belgium's proposal. This reveals the differences of opinion within the Conference, reinforced by the fact that members of the League of Arab Nations (part of the OCI) signed a project for a complete ban on human cloning in June 2004.

Numerous countries are undecided and have pointed to their lack of information on the scientific issues underlying human cloning. Despite their divisions, all the countries are seeking a wide consensus on the issue in order to maximise the scope of the future Convention.

At the moment, it has not yet been decided whether to prolong the discussions or to hold a vote, whose deadline has been set for 10 November according to the Australian News of 22 October.

25/10/04

Elisabeth Bryant, aged 63 and practically blind, has had her sight restored after a transplant of retinal cells taken from an aborted foetus. The operation was performed two and a half years ago by a team led by Dr Robert Aramant at the University of Louisville (Kentucky). The doctors published the results of the operation in the 30 October issue of the New Scientist, which confirmed her vision had improved.

So far, six patients with degenerative eye diseases, retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration, have received similar transplants in the United States.

The University of Louisville has expressed concern at criticism raised by its use of cells from aborted foetuses. The downside of this technique is that it requires foetal tissue to be donated.

This disadvantage has been further highlighted since this week's publication of a study led by Dr B. Coles in Toronto showing the potential of adult stem cells in treating human eye pathologies. The researchers showed that human stem cells transplanted into the retina of mice and chicks regenerated into retinal cells. These finding are published in PNAS, Facile isolation and the characterization of human retinal stem cells, 25 October 2004.

Le Figaro (Cyrille Louis) 30/10/04 - Nouvelobs.com (Cécile Dumas) 29/10/04 - BBC News 27/10/04 - Le Quotidien du Médecin (Isabelle Catala) 26/10/04

The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium (IHGSC), made up of several pharmaceutical companies throughout the world, has announced* that the human genome contains between 20-25,000 protein-coding genes. This is a huge drop from the 100,000 figure initially put forward by the international scientific community, before the February 2001 genome sequencing announcement which enabled the number of protein-coding genes to be estimated at 30,000.

An improved sequencing technique has enabled researchers to analyse the 10% of DNA still inaccessible in 2001 and establish the role of non-functional repetitive genes thought to be protein-coding. Only 341 DNA segments, mainly situated among the chromosome centromeres, remain to be sequenced.

This data shows that the complexity of an organism does not depend on the number of its protein-coding genes. According to this criterion, man is situated between the Caenorhabditis elegans worm (19,500 genes) and the Arabidopsis thaliana herbaceous plant (27,000 genes).

Biologists and geneticists are attempting to get a better understanding of the way our genome is organised according to the quality of gene expression regulation and the splicing phenomenon by which a single gene can be responsible for synthesising several different proteins.

Protein-coding genes represent around 5% of our DNA which means that 95% of our genome consists of sequences that do not seem to fulfil any purpose and are nicknamed "junk" DNA. Nature has published the findings of an American team which created mice without a long sequence of "junk" DNA. "The mice are no different from their natural counterparts in terms of morphology, reproductive capacity, growth, longevity and a host of other aspects," explained the researchers. It would therefore seem that erasing a large part of the genome did not cause any real problems in the mice, which is surprising given recent research demonstrating the crucial role of "junk" DNA, particularly during embryonic development. According to Christian Biémont (developmental biology laboratory, UMR 5558): "It is possible that DNA contains repetitive information. If we remove a small portion of it, another could take its place, which would explain why there are no consequences."

* Nature, 21 October 2004; see the online article: Human genome: End of the beginning, Nature 431, 915 - 916

Le Monde (Jean-Yves Nau, Stéphane Foucart) 23/10/04

At the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Neuroscience, Dr James Goss (Pittsburgh) presented promising results for a gene therapy tested on mice to treat diabetic neuropathy.

Using a herpes simplex (HSV) virus as a vector, the researchers were able to introduce the genes for neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and nerve growth factor (NGF), which preliminary studies have shown to reduce the clinical signs of neuropathy.

Five weeks later, the treated animals showed reduced symptoms while the control animals remained unchanged. The vectors, injected under the skin directly into the sensory neurons, then travelled into the neuron cell body.

It is difficult to say when this approach could be brought to clinical trials.

Le Quotidien du Médecin 27/10/04

The Family Division of the High Court in London has handed down a judgement authorising doctors to refuse aggressive treatment to save a 9-month-old baby with Edwards syndrome, also known as Trisomy 18.

The judge had to rule on the treatment to be given to the boy, Luke Winston-Jones, in the dispute between his mother and doctors. Doctors have consequently been authorised not to revive the child with a respirator if his condition deteriorates but can practise cardiac massage if it is in the boy's interest.

This is the same court that ruled two weeks ago in the case of Charlotte Wyatt, born severely premature, by authorising doctors not to revive her the next time she stops breathing.

Nouvelobs.com 22/10/04 - Radio Canada 22/10/04 - Le Quotidien du Médecin 26/10/04

The European Commission gave the go-ahead on 26 October for food products containing NK603 genetically modified maize by Monsanto to be placed on the market.

Libération 27/10/04