Swiss Stem Cell Network

THE SWISS STEM Cell Network (SSCN) is a nonprofit scientific organization devoted to promoting stem cell research in Switzerland. The SSCN was founded in Geneva in November 2004 by a number of scientists led by founding director Dr. Ariel Ruiz I Altaba of the University of Geneva, with the immediate goal of organizing the defense of stem cell research against a popular referendum that could have banned research involving use of human embryonic stem cells in Switzerland. The SSCN's effort to defend stem cell research was successful, and the Swiss populace voted almost two to one in favor of allowing the research use of human embryonic stem cells. This was a significant victory because, although référendums are common in Switzerland, this was the first referendum in any country to be held on the topic of stem cell research.

[Page 541]The controversy began in 2000, when Marisa Jaconi, a biologist in the department of pathology and immunology in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva, received government funding to use human embryonic cells in her studies of cardiac differentiation. Switzerland had no law governing research with stem cells at that time, but to be prepared for such situations in the future, by December 2003 the Swiss government had passed a law legalizing stem cell research with restrictions similar to those governing such research in the United Kingdom. A number of religious and other groups were opposed to embryonic stem cell research, however, including the Catholic Church and the Green Party, and they gathered over 87,000 signatures on a petition that they presented to the Swiss government, forcing it to schedule a referendum (popular vote) on the issue.

To forestall criticism and maintain the possibility of continuing stem cell research in Switzerland, in the year between the passage of the stem cell research law (Stammzellenforschungsgesetz) and the referendum, additional restrictions were added to the law, making the Swiss law more restrictive than that of the United Kingdom. The stem cell research law that was approved by voters in 2004 added restrictions banning the creation of clones, embryos, or chimeras specifically for research purposes and allowed only use of supernumerary embryos (those created but not used for in vitro fertilization) within seven days of their creation. Under this law, Swiss researchers are also allowed to import stem cell lines for their research, but these imported lines are subject to the same restrictions as if they had been created in Switzerland, including that they must not have been cloned specifically for research purposes.

The current purposes of the SSCN, as stated on its Web site, are to advance study of basic molecular, cellular, and organismic mechanisms of embryonic and adult stem cell functions in human and model systems; to present the public with accurate and firsthand information about current stem cell research; to encourage and support young people, women, and minorities in science; to foster interaction between scientists and between scientists and society; and to discuss the scientific and ethical issues arising from stem cell research. The Web site also carries a disclaimer stating that the SSCN does not support reproductive cloning.

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