Nebraska lawmakers poised for stem cell debate
Posted: Friday, February 08, 2008
OMAHA (AP) -- A state legislative committee has cleared the way for a floor debate over the creation of human embryos for scientific research.
On Thursday, the committee advanced a bill that would ban reproductive cloning and the use of state money or facilities for creating or destroying embryos for stem cell research using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer -- more commonly referred to as therapeutic cloning.
In advancing the bill (LB606), the Judiciary Committee threw out a similar bill (LB700) introduced last year by Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial that would have barred both reproductive and therapeutic cloning, no matter the funding source.
Researchers study embryonic stem cells in hopes of developing cures to diseases. They have come under fire because isolating the cells destroys embryos. Opponents of the research believe embryos are the starting point of human life and that destroying them is immoral.
University of Nebraska Medical Center researchers have said a total ban on cloning could harm the research and that therapeutic cloning is cutting-edge science that should be allowed to flourish.
Dr. David Crouse, an administrator and professor at UNMC, said Thursday that he hadn't seen the new bill and would not be able to comment immediately on it.
UNMC conducts some research using the government-sanctioned embryonic stem cell lines, and it wasn't immediately clear what impact the proposed law could have on that work.
Groups against all types of cloning aren't completely happy with the new bill. They say it leaves the door open for private groups to do embryonic stem cell research.
Chip Maxwell, executive director of the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research, said there are people in Omaha with the money to fund a research institute and researchers at UNMC who are able and willing to do the work.
"The question of what happens in the private realm still looms, and to us it is a very real threat," said Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life.
She also said her group would try to start a grass-roots campaign to get Christensen's bill to the Legislature floor.
A message left Thursday for Christensen was not immediately returned.
Most embryos used in U.S. research are left over from in vitro fertilization -- where a woman's eggs are fertilized outside the womb and the resulting embryos are implanted in the uterus. If the embryos are not implanted, they are typically destroyed.
Embryonic stem cells are valued for their ability to morph into any of the cell types of the body. But scientists say new research shows skin cells may also be able to do that.
Research using adult and umbilical stem cells has not been controversial because those cells are not derived from embryos.
In a pre-session survey of Nebraska's 49 lawmakers by The Associated Press, 24 said they would support a state ban on human cloning to produce embryonic stem cells. Eight said they would not. Two senators said they were not sure, and 15 did not participate in the survey.
The Judiciary Committee's proposed Stem Cell Research Act would also create an advisory committee composed of the deans of Nebraska medical schools and two scientists from outside the state. The group would be able to award grants for research on non-embryonic stem cell research.
If approved, the act would make researchers who violate the ban on reproductive cloning or the limitations on therapeutic cloning guilty of a Class IV felony, which is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both.
State law already prohibits the use of money from the nationwide tobacco settlement for studying embryonic stem cells.
Two bills limiting some types of research and another regarding research funding were introduced in 2005, but they never made it to a final floor vote.
Lawmakers in 16 states have passed legislation regarding cloning, but only five states ban both reproductive and therapeutic cloning. Iowa, which passed similar legislation in 2002, last year eased restrictions on therapeutic cloning.
California and New Jersey have laws that specifically permit cloning for research purposes.
There is no federal law that governs cloning. Legislation has been introduced on both sides of the issue.
Associated Press reporter Nate Jenkins in Lincoln contributed to this story.
On the Net:
Nebraska Legislature: http://www.unicam.state.ne.us
On Thursday, the committee advanced a bill that would ban reproductive cloning and the use of state money or facilities for creating or destroying embryos for stem cell research using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer -- more commonly referred to as therapeutic cloning.
In advancing the bill (LB606), the Judiciary Committee threw out a similar bill (LB700) introduced last year by Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial that would have barred both reproductive and therapeutic cloning, no matter the funding source.
Researchers study embryonic stem cells in hopes of developing cures to diseases. They have come under fire because isolating the cells destroys embryos. Opponents of the research believe embryos are the starting point of human life and that destroying them is immoral.
University of Nebraska Medical Center researchers have said a total ban on cloning could harm the research and that therapeutic cloning is cutting-edge science that should be allowed to flourish.
Dr. David Crouse, an administrator and professor at UNMC, said Thursday that he hadn't seen the new bill and would not be able to comment immediately on it.
UNMC conducts some research using the government-sanctioned embryonic stem cell lines, and it wasn't immediately clear what impact the proposed law could have on that work.
Groups against all types of cloning aren't completely happy with the new bill. They say it leaves the door open for private groups to do embryonic stem cell research.
Chip Maxwell, executive director of the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research, said there are people in Omaha with the money to fund a research institute and researchers at UNMC who are able and willing to do the work.
"The question of what happens in the private realm still looms, and to us it is a very real threat," said Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life.
She also said her group would try to start a grass-roots campaign to get Christensen's bill to the Legislature floor.
A message left Thursday for Christensen was not immediately returned.
Most embryos used in U.S. research are left over from in vitro fertilization -- where a woman's eggs are fertilized outside the womb and the resulting embryos are implanted in the uterus. If the embryos are not implanted, they are typically destroyed.
Embryonic stem cells are valued for their ability to morph into any of the cell types of the body. But scientists say new research shows skin cells may also be able to do that.
Research using adult and umbilical stem cells has not been controversial because those cells are not derived from embryos.
In a pre-session survey of Nebraska's 49 lawmakers by The Associated Press, 24 said they would support a state ban on human cloning to produce embryonic stem cells. Eight said they would not. Two senators said they were not sure, and 15 did not participate in the survey.
The Judiciary Committee's proposed Stem Cell Research Act would also create an advisory committee composed of the deans of Nebraska medical schools and two scientists from outside the state. The group would be able to award grants for research on non-embryonic stem cell research.
If approved, the act would make researchers who violate the ban on reproductive cloning or the limitations on therapeutic cloning guilty of a Class IV felony, which is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both.
State law already prohibits the use of money from the nationwide tobacco settlement for studying embryonic stem cells.
Two bills limiting some types of research and another regarding research funding were introduced in 2005, but they never made it to a final floor vote.
Lawmakers in 16 states have passed legislation regarding cloning, but only five states ban both reproductive and therapeutic cloning. Iowa, which passed similar legislation in 2002, last year eased restrictions on therapeutic cloning.
California and New Jersey have laws that specifically permit cloning for research purposes.
There is no federal law that governs cloning. Legislation has been introduced on both sides of the issue.
Associated Press reporter Nate Jenkins in Lincoln contributed to this story.
On the Net:
Nebraska Legislature: http://www.unicam.state.ne.us
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