general conference iii

MUNESCO 2010 – Natural Sciences / Social & Human Sciences – Chair Report

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Forum: GA III: Natural Sciences / Social & Human Sciences

Issue: Reviewing the management of international water resources and aiding

countries in allocating the limited freshwater resources

Introduction Water is one of the most important natural resources in the world; this is why it

is so important that everyone in the world has access to it. Other than being

necessary for human life, it can also be used as a source of renewable energy due to

its immense power in certain situations, for example tidal energy and wave energy.

However, providing fresh drinking water and water as en energy source around the

world serves to be a major global challenge, especially in LEDC’s.

One third of the population of the earth does not have daily access to clean

water and experiences what is known as water stress. This has serious impacts on

the poor especially. The rising population, growing industry and increasing irrigated

agriculture in the world will only serve to heighten the problem globally.

Definition of Key Terms a. Water Stress The term “water stress” refers specifically to areas where the amount of water

does not match the demand for water, whether the problem is agricultural, industrial,

or domestic. Water stress has a great number of causes: increasing population,

poverty, growth of industrial areas, urbanization, climate change, pollution, and

international conflict.

b. Irrigated Agriculture

Irrigated agriculture is the name given to cultivation that has to be artificially

watered. This can be done by a variety of methods including spraying, flooding, or by

diverting nearby streams.

c. Sanitation

Sanitation, which is a big problem in LEDC’s, is the process through which

water supplies have to go to in order to become clean and not hazardous to people’s

health, therefore becoming safe to drink.

d. Urbanization

Urbanization is the expansion of cities and the decrease of rural places in a

certain area.


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e. United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) The United Nations Environment Program’s efforts apply to many

environmental factors; however they are also specialized in managing freshwater

resources around the world. They lead a great deal of programs and activities to

overcome lack of freshwater in the world.

General Overview All over the world, the usage of water differs according to climate, economy,

demand, and population. In certain parts of the world, specifically LEDC’s,

populations are large and poor, and water is scarce. In these locations the water is

not sanitized and many water related sicknesses cause deaths in the population. In

other parts of the world, specifically MEDC’s, there is more freshwater available to

the populace; however, since demands are higher, these parts of the world use an

abundant amount of water which leaves other countries with less. This is why water

management is so crucial, and in this era, so urgent.

a. Water Conditions in West Asia West Asia has a dry, arid climate and a rising population, causing it to become

an issue when diplomatic problems are taken into consideration. The most serious

political disputes come from the management of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris,

which run through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. The rivers originate in Turkey and flow into

Syria and Iraq. However, since neither three countries are wealthy when it comes to

the topic of freshwater resources, each claims these rivers as its own. These

territorial disputes over limited freshwater resources cause ongoing political problems

between the countries. Syria believes that Turkey builds dams over the Euphrates in

order to limit water reaching Syria; Iraq remains in fear that no water will reach its

borders because of the usage by Syria and Turkey. On the other hand, Turkey tries

to boost its economy in the southeast by managing the Southeast Anatolia Project.

In this area, the rising population and the constantly urbanizing development

competes with the agricultural needs of the area, which are estimated to consume

approximately 70% of the water available, leaving very little for domestic needs.

b. Water Conditions in Africa Although, at a glance, the water supplies in the continent of Africa seem

abundant and available, their geographical distribution is uneven and varied. When

other limiting factors such as climate change, unpredictable rainfall, rising population


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and desertification are taken into consideration; it is not surprising to see that Africa

experiences a great deal of water stress.

According to research by the United Nations Environmental Program,

“Fourteen countries in Northern, Western and Southern Africa are already

experiencing water stress; another 11 countries are expected to join them by 2025 at

which time nearly 50 per cent of Africa’s predicted population of 1.45 billion people

will face water stress or scarcity.” (Unep.org, Water in the Regions). This could lead

to a serious crisis in Africa and critically limit its economic and social growth.

c. Water Conditions in the Asia-Pacific

Asia, home to 60% of the world’s entire population and a mere 36% of the

world’s water resources, experiences a great deal of water stress. Another big

problem in the area is the pollution that comes from industry, agriculture and human

waste. Combined with the little amount of water there, this means severe

consequences for the population of that area.

According to research by the United Nations Environmental Program, “In Asia,

demand for water increased over 300 percent in the last 50 years while the supply

remains the same. In most part of the region, demand exceeds yield of aquifers and

rivers.” (Unep.org, Water in the Regions)

Also, the remaining sources of freshwater do not meet international standards

such as the WHO. There is a large concentration of heavy metals and poisons such

as arsenic. These hazards are due to uncontrolled and rapid industrialization and

urbanization in the area.

d. Water Conditions in Latin America & the Caribbean The climate of the Latin American and Caribbean region is very rich and

abundant and the water resources plenty; however, this area experiences a great

deal of difficulty in this subject due to lack of management and control. There are not

enough strong laws and policies related to the topic, which leaves the future of the

rich climate in possibility of losing its profusion. The social participation in the

management of the water resources is inadequate and feeble.

This lack of discipline has already shown various negative effects on the

freshwater sources; most importantly, the rivers and lakes in Latin America and the

Caribbean are experiencing pollution in urbanized areas.

UN Activities In Relation to Water Management, 2009

Month Event Location Date


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Workshop for Journalists at

the 5th World Water Forum

Istanbul, Turkey 16-22

March World Water Day: "Shared

Water - Shared

Opportunities"

- 22

April

International Meeting on

Water and Cooperation in

Africa

Las Palmas de

Gran Canaria,

Spain

20-22

May

Conclusions and

recommendations from the

International Meeting

on Water and Cooperation

in Africa

UN Headquarters 25

August

The UNO-IDfA at the World

Water Week

Stockholm,

Sweden 16-22

September

Summary of Conclusions of

the International Media

Consultation on Water and

Climate Change

Zaragoza, Spain 24-25

October

Information and

Communication Workshop

on Water and Climate

Change for Journalists from

Latin America and the

Caribbean

Punta Cana,

Dominican

Republic

29-31

November Getting action on Africa’s Johannesburg, 12


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water crisis. The hard

questions and how climate

change impacts the

answers.

South Africa

December

1st International Conference

of the Global Water

Operators’ Partnership

Alliance

Zaragoza, Spain 3-4

Economic Considerations In order to make the best use of the scarce amount of water on our Earth, we

need to be able to replace old infrastructures to do with water transportation,

filtration, etc. Some examples of these machineries are pipes, pumping stations, and

water treatment works. However, a very immense amount of capital investment is

required to achieve this transformation, and all LEDC’s do not have the financial

power to support such a program, despite being the countries most in need of it. The

amount of capital investment required is estimated to be approximately 200 billion

USD.

“International attention has focused upon the needs of the developing

countries. To meet the Millennium Development Goals targets of halving the

proportion of the population lacking access to safe drinking water and basic

sanitation by 2015, current annual investment on the order of USD 10 to USD 15

billion would need to be roughly doubled. This does not include investments required

for the maintenance of existing infrastructure.” (Wikipedia.org, Water Resources)

Considering that only 3% of the Earth’s water is freshwater, and only 0.3% of

this freshwater is surface water, we come to the conclusion that these numbers are

not sufficient to meet the demands of the world’s large population of 7 billion.

Therefore, it is crucial to deduce that new technologies have to be researched in

order to extract clean drinking water from other mediums (such as groundwater, or

possibly the oceans).

Of course, it is difficult to make these considerations when the Earth is

experiencing a very serious global financial crisis; nonetheless, we should not forget

that the Earth, and specifically the environment, is dealing with a crisis of its own: one

that needs to be dealt with urgently and accurately.

Bibliography


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♦ Unep.org – Freshwater / About (accessed December 24, 2009)

http://www.unep.org/themes/Freshwater/About/index.asp

♦ Unep.org – Water In the Regions (accessed December 24, 2009)

http://www.unep.org/themes/Freshwater/Regions/index.asp

♦ Wikipedia.org – Water Resources (accessed January 3, 2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_resources

♦ Un.org – Water For Life Decade, News Archive (accessed January 4, 2010)

http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/newsarchive.html

Useful Links

♦ http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/pdf/waterborders.pdf

♦ http://ag.arizona.edu/AZWATER/awr/dec99/Feature2.htm

♦ http://www.unep.org/themes/Freshwater/Programmes_And_Activities/index.asp

♦ http://www.unep.org/themes/Freshwater/Related_Links/index.asp

♦ http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/St-Ts/Transboundary-Water-

Treaties.html#Comments_2


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Forum: GC 3 (Natural Resources)

Issue: Regulation of opium farming and distribution in narcotic producing states with

emphasis on its role in the funding of international terrorism

Background Information: Opium, as a dictionary definition, is “a bitter, yellowish-

brown, strongly addictive narcotic drug prepared from the dried juice of unripe pods

of the opium poppy and containing alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and

papaverine”. Opium is used both for anesthesia and as a narcotic drug.

The cultivation of opium for a handful of purposes such as obtainment of food,

anesthesia and usage in certain rituals dates back to the Neolithic Age the earliest.

The Great Empires of the ancient times, such as the Roman, the Chinese, the

Persian and the Greek made broad usage of opium; mainly for pain relief, which

allowed surgeons of the time to apply extended operations on patients.

In China, the using of opium began in the fifteenth century; yet since it was expensive

and hard-to-get, was limited. Prohibition began in 1729, but was continued by two

centuries of increasing opium use. Opium was banned in many countries in the

beginning of the twentieth century, which made its production illicit and led to the

situation of nowadays on the matter.

Though opium production is illegal in almost all countries, legal opium production is

also made for medical purposes. Legal opium is made mostly in Turkey and India.

The illegality of opium production makes it the fund for many terrorist organizations.

The term “narco-terrorism” is used to refer to the links between international drug

trafficking and terrorist groups; which means basically that narco-terrorist groups are

those who use drug trade to pay for their terrorist acts. Yet some experts believe that

even though usually terrorists and drug-dealers have the same short-term intentions,

their long-term ambitions differ—terrorism is generally for political reasons, and drug

production & trade is simply to gain money and out of greediness; and though they

are synchronized, they are not (in the objective part) purely alike. On the other hand,

drug- dealing and especially opium trade is often used to finance terrorism and they

have a close relation in the countries that are the main opium producers.

Related Countries: The dominant opium producer today in Afghanistan; followed by

Southeast Asian countries such as Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. Cultivation of


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opium is also observed in some Latin American countries such as Colombia and

Mexico (thoughthe main illicit drug related substance in the region is coca). Some

opium farming is also done in Northern India and Hungary.

Today, Afghanistan is the main producer of opium worldwide—in 2008, 93% of the

opium worldwide was produced in the country. After the withdrawal of the Soviet

troops which invaded Afghanistan between 1979-1989 followed by the collapse of the

central authority, opium farming rose in the country and became a source of money

for many Afghans. In 2000, the Taliban made illegal the cultivation of opium poppies

to be aided financially by more economically developed countries and allegedly to

have control over the opium market, having large stockpiles and illegalization causing

inflation in the prices. So the opium production was eradicated in Taliban controlled

areas, but the trafficking was not. For the last few years, the economy of Afghanistan

has been highly dependent on opium—for instance, more than 35% of the gross

national product of the country was made by selling the harvest of opium poppies in

2006. Though the economy depends on it, opium producing areas in Afghanistan

dropped from 193,000 hectares to 157,000 between 2007-2008, according to the

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report 2009.

The “Golden Triangle” is the second main opium producing area in Asia, consisting of

Thailand, Laos, Viet Nam and Myanmar. It is reported that there is some opium

farming in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Thailand as well, though there is no data on

the extent of the production.

Myanmar is the second biggest producer of illicit opium in the world, following

Afghanistan. Until the early 21st century, Myanmar was the biggest opium producer

and the majority of heroin came from the Golden Triangle, until Afghanistan took the

lead. The opium production in Myanmar decreased around 80% between 1998 and

2006, following an eradication campaign; yet it is on the increase again – a 29%

percent rise in the number of hectares being used to grow opium poppies was

observed in the year 2007. According to the most recent survey of the UNODC,

opium cultivation rose in Myanmar in 2009 as well, the third year in a row. Today,

opium is produced on 28,500 hectares in Myanmar.

Laos, on the other hand has a much less wide area of opium cultivation, which is only

in very remote areas. Opium cultivating areas eradicated greatly between the years

2003- 2007 – dropping from 12,000 hectares to just below 2,000. A 7% rise was

observed in 2008; but the country is far from being a major producer.


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According to the UNODC World Drug Report 2009, there is major opium production

in Colombia and Mexico as well. Though Colombia’s main production in the mean on

drugs is coca (of what cocaine is derived) there is also opium production in the

country to a certain extent, but is on the decline. Opium cultivation areas decreased

45% in 2007, dropping from 714 hectares to 394. Mexico, on the other hand has

shown a graphic of decrease between the years 1994-2005, but the cultivation of

opium rose again in the

following years. By 2005, opium cultivation areas were dropped to 3,300 hectares

from 5,795 in eleven years; yet in the following two years this number rose to 6,900.

The cultivation of opium in Mexico right now is higher than it has ever been in the

country.

Opium cultivation is one thing, but usually the form that is trafficked is its derivatives

and mostly heroin. Heroin is produced in chemistry labs in many different countries,

and many governments have efforts to eradicate these illegal laboratories. The

highest number of opiate-producing labs was reported by Russian Federation in

2007; but most of the world’s illicit opium was produced in Afghanistan, in 57 large-

scale laboratories. Germany, Australia, Colombia, India, Myanmar and Mexico are

also among the countries where major labs are detected.

Possible Solutions: The problem is great and although many ways of solution have

been tried in the past years, none of them have been able to solve it efficiently and

completely. The opium cultivation areas in Afghanistan, for instance, were eradicated

by 4% one year but this was resulted in many human and economical problems.

Opium production and that of its derivatives feed terrorists, yes; but sometimes

authorities seem to forget that its cultivation is the only source of money for

thousands of families worldwide and they have no choice but growing opium poppies.

On the other hand, opiate-addiction is the hardest of all drug addictions to cure, and

a great majority of cases cause in death; examples of which we can see very

frequently in popular culture.

So what needs to be done? It is obvious that illicit opium production should be put to

an end since it is a huge threat to human health and life. It is estimated that there are

around 15 to 21 million opiate-addicts worldwide, which is a huge number. Drug

addiction of all kind is very dangerous and has permanent effects on one’s body and

mind; but with opium and its derivatives, especially heroin, it is deadly. The thing here

is that most people start consuming opium derived drugs by their own will and


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choice; and sometimes even for meaningless reasons such as peer pressure. The

more the consumers, the more the production, this is the most basic form of

economics; so one thing to do is to decrease the buyers in order to discourage the

producers. Now almost all governments have strict laws on drug use and trade, and

still the drug market is very active. It is true that regulations limit the use until one

point but those who want it still can get it. So it may be good idea to create

awareness in the public, especially the young to not use drugs which will be a win-

win situation—the usage will decrease followed by a decline in production.

Opium production is also, as stated before, a source of cash for many terrorist

organizations. Al-Qaeda uses drug trade as a source of money, as does PKK. This is

another reason why this issue should be resolved once and for all, but of course, the

organizations do not grow opium poppies themselves. Opium cultivation is done

mostly in LEDCs, and the ones who grow it are generally poverty-stricken families

with no choice but. There is no reason for them not to go on with the growing of

opium since opium keeps them from starving and gives them a better standard of life,

therefore their

situation should also be considered while coming up with a solution on the topic. If

they are not given better opportunities, it is clear that opium cultivation cannot be

stopped. The most basic solution to this is regional development, which will be

followed by the decrease in cultivation.

UN Involvement: UN has a number of organizations fighting against drugs and

terrorism. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, established in 1997 helps

Member States in their fight against drug trade and terrorism. International Narcotics

Control Board is a sub-organization of the Economic and Social Council which

detects the implementation of the UN drug-related regulations. Reporting to the

ECOSOC, there is also the Commission on Narcotic Drugs on the topic.

There are three drug-related treaties that the UN has declared which complement

and support each other: Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961, amended by

the 1972 Protocol), Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971) and United

Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic

Substances (1988).

The UNODC publishes the World Drug Report every year in order to create public

awareness about the illicit drug production and trafficking. The International Day

against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is also celebrated on 26th June every year.


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Similar campaigns take place to let people know about drugs. UNODC also promotes

alternative ways of developing to Member States instead of illicit cultivation and tries

to eliminate the demand for opium and its derivatives in collaboration with the World

Health Organization.

Maps & Graphics:

Opium production areas

The major drug trafficking routes of the

world

Useful graphs may also be found in UNODC’s World Drug Report 2009.


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Useful Links: “Opium”, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium

CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-

factbook/index.html

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime http://www.unodc.org/ UNODC World

Drug Report 2009

http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2009/WDR2009_eng_web.pdf

International Narcotics Control Board http://www.incb.org/

Geopium – Geopolitics of illegal drugs in Asia http://www.geopium.org/Chouvy-JIR-

JAN2005-DangerOpiumEradicationAsia.html

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1070717.html

UN Crime, Drug and Terrorism Related Treaties

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/index.html?ref=menutop

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/commissions/CND/index.html?ref=menutop Science

and Development Network http://www.scidev.net/en/ Works Cited: The definition of

“Opium” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/opium


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Forum: Commission 3 (Natural Sciences / Social & Human Sciences)

Issue: Raising awareness on the global implications of stem cell research and

forming a global consensus on the codification of its scientific

applications.

Background Information Stem cells are cells which have amazing biological potentials. Stem cells, as the name

indicates, have the ability to differentiate into any type of cells that are found in the human

body. Since the discovery of the first real stem cells in the 1960s, scientist all over the world

has begun to conduct experimentations covering a wide range of applications of stem cells.

Stem cells, in general, are regarded to be “totipotent” and “pluripotent”. Totipotency refers

to the stem cells’ ability to differentiate into any specialized embryonic cells. These totipotent

cells can be used to create any parts of an organism’s embryo, given the required

environmental factors. Likewise, pluripotency refers to the stem cells’ ability to divide and

differentiate into any type of body cells.

These two properties of stem cells make them unique. In simple words, this means that

humans can direct stem cells into any tissue type they want, including nerve cells, heart cells,

muscle cells, blood cells, and bone cells. With the scientific utilization of stem cells, scientist

can cure many significant diseases which currently have no cures at all, such as Alzheimer’s,

ALS, MS etc. Additionally, fatal acute diseases like heart attacks and blindness can also be

cured via using produced human stem cells.

Stem cells are found in many organisms, and they are usually located deep inside the

organs in adult humans. Nevertheless, they are common in human embryos while they are

young. However, these embryos have to be killed and surgically removed in order to gain the

valuable human embryonic stem cells. As a result, there have been many controversies

regarding the stem cell issue. In order to understand this controversy, one has to know the

three different kinds of stem cells. The National Institute of Health (NIH) of United States

classifies stem cells in these categories:

1. Embryonic stem cells (ES) are primitive type of cells that can be induced to produce any

type of tissues which is found in the body, such as blood tissue, bone tissue, heart tissue or

brain tissue. These stem cells are the most totipotent and pluripotent cells that humans can

possess in the entire world. This means that these cells have the greatest potential energy to

differentiate into any type of specialized cells. However, they are derived from human


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embryos in a process that causes the death of the embryos. Although these cells are the ones

which are most likely and most able to cure diseases, they cause human embryos to be killed.

2. Human-Adult stem cells are stem cells which are obtained from current tissues of living

adults. These cells have some similarities to embryonic stem cells. Because researches on

these cells have been taking place for longer periods of time than other type of stem cells,

their potential treatments have already advanced to human trial stage. Unfortunately, although

these cells can be obtained without causing any person to die, adult stem cells are limited in

differentiation ability, and they are only capable of differentiating into few of the specialized

cell types. As a result, they can not be used as efficiently as embryonic stem cells can be.

3. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) are special types of stem cells which are known only

for the last 4 years. They are specially treated adult somatic cells, such as skin cells, that are

specially processed to exhibit some of the properties of embryonic stem cells. Shinya

Yamanaka of Kyoto University was the first scientist to produce these cells from mice tissues

in 2006 using 4 different protein factors. Furthermore, James Thomson of University of

Wisconsin and his group accomplished to produce these cells by using human skin cells,

denoting the creation of first human stem cells from a human tissue nuclear reprogramming.

Consequently, the process of iPS cells seems to offer the advantages of embryonic stem cells

without the ethical dilemma conflicts.

Related Countries United States

United States is the largest stem cell researcher state in the world. Until 2000, including Bill

Clinton Administration, stem cell researches were funded and supported by the government.

However, in 2001, George W. Bush banned the creation of new stem cell lines and prohibited

funding these researches. Consequently, until 2009, there was no significant stem cell

research project conducted in the United States. However, on March 2009, President Obama

signed a legislation (Executive Order 13505) entitled "Removing Barriers to Responsible

Research Involving Human Stem Cells." After this legislation, all the funding and researches

on stem cells were free again for scientists and institutions.

United Kingdom


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United Kingdom is one of the strong states that favor stem cell researches. In 2001, United

Kingdom parliament agreed to fund and support stem cell researches by signing and

amending a legislation entitled “Human Fertilization and Embryology Act” under the

supervision of Lord Salisbury, United Kingdom’s Science and Innovation Secretary.

European Countries

There is no consensus among European Countries in general on the issue of stem cells. There

are countries that favor stem cell line productions, and there are those which oppose these

researches. However, the overall trend opposes the issue. These are some example countries:

Favor: United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Sweden

Oppose: Germany, Austria, Italy, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, the Netherlands

Asian Countries

Similar to Europe, there is no consensus on the stem cell issue in Asia, either.

Favor: China, Japan, South Korea, Iran

Oppose: India, Israel, Saudi Arabia

Other

South Africa is the only African country that has created a stem cell line.

Canada and Brazil have also favored the issue.

Possible Solutions There have been distinct solution proposals to reach a global consensus on stem cell

researches. However, so far, the global community is still debating over the issue, and a

consensus seems to be far away. The best way should be gathering leading scientific and

political figures all around the world in a gigantic summit in which the issue would be

debated in both points of view. Due to the fact that this issue is a significant scientific issue

and can lead to amazing medical discoveries, the world states should give more attention to

the issue. Additionally, states should make both individual and international agendas

considering this issue in order to obtain full national and international consensus on the stem

cell research issues, including therapeutic cloning and embryonic stem cell gathering.

In the issue of increasing awareness of stem cell researches in the community, much

can be done. These are some of the possible solutions which the delegates should consider:

• States should enable private and national media organs to enable broadcasting this

issue.

• Scientific experts should attempt to inform the public on the issue.


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• Mass media should include this issue in their bodies.

• Public informational meetings, such as conferences and meetings, should be held both

by the government and the private companies in order to raise society’s awareness on

the issue.

UN Involvement There have been various interactions of United Nations bodies in the issue of stem cell

research. However, none of them was able to make the countries have a consensus. There has

only been one significant resolution of UN General Assembly (in 2005) which covered this

issue broadly. According to that resolution, UN voted in favor of banning all of the nuclear

transfers in stem cells, which meant that UN in general desired to prohibit all stem cell

researches. However, this decision had done little effect on countries’ stem cell research

projects. Stanford University reported the following news after the decision, which clearly

demonstrated UN’s decisions outcomes:

“While a plurality of 71 nations in the UN's legal committee voted for banning all cloning, 35

members opposed the measure because it went beyond banning reproductive cloning—in

which the intent is to create another human being—to also prohibit therapeutic cloning,

which is done to create new lines of stem cells. Another 43 nations abstained from the

committee vote altogether, meaning that the number who did not support the measure was

larger than the number who did.

China, Japan and the United Kingdom were among those who opposed the resolution, while

Italy, Germany and the United States were in the camp that voted in favor of the declaration.

Regardless of the final tally, it is questionable whether the resolution will hold much sway

over individual countries as they decide whether scientists can pursue stem cell research and

do somatic cell nuclear transfers, the technique that allows for stem cells and clones to be


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created. The measure still must go before the General Assembly, and even if passed then, it's

only a recommendation—not a legally binding treaty.”

Despite UN General Assembly’s opposition to stem cell researches, another UN body, World

Health Organization (WHO) clearly favors and supports all the researches on this issue.

Graphics

iPS production diagram:

1. Isolate and culture host cells. e.g. mouse embryonic fibroblasts and adult human dermal fibroblasts.

2. Introduce the ES specific genes (iPS factors) into the cells by using retrovirus vector. Red cells indicate the cells expressing the exogenous genes.

3. Harvest and culture the cells according to the method for ES cell culture using feeder cells (gray).


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4. A subset of the cells generates ES-like colonies, that is, iPS cells.

Embryonic Stem Cellshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_treatments


/ 20

Human-Adult

Stem Cells

Nuclear

Programming

of Stem Cells


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Useful Links Do No Harm – The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics http://www.stemcellresearch.org/ National Health Institute – Stem Cell Center http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics1.asp Wikipedia – For Overall View http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_pluripotent_stem_cell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_controversy United Nations Official Website http://www.un.org World Health Organization Official Website http://www.who.int/en

Works Cited Stanford University News http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/march2/med-undivided-030205.html Wikipedia and its Derivatives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_laws United Nations General Assembly News http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/ga10333.doc.htm Pros and Cons of Stem Cell Research http://www.allaboutpopularissues.org/pros-and-cons-of-stem-cell-research.htm http://www.experiment-resources.com/stem-cell-pros-and-cons.html National Health Institute Stem Cell Center http://stemcells.nih.gov/policy/

general conference iii

Documents

water management

clean water

water conditions

water supplies

usage of water

term water stress

fresh drinking water

rising population