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State Representative Linda Slocum
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-7158
For more information contact: Ted Modrich 651-296-5809
Column/LTE
STEM-CELL BAN WILL CRIPPLE LIFE-SAVING RESEARCH
ST. PAUL — In the March 31 issue of the Sun Current, the paper printed an opinion piece from Managing Editor Joseph Palmersheim entitled, “Preventing the attack of the clones?" Mr. Palmersheim spoke of a bill moving through the Minnesota Senate that would ban human cloning. Since the publishing of that column, the language of that bill was added as an amendment to the higher education bills that passed both bodies of the Minnesota Legislature.
My view? Too little information can be a dangerous thing. While Mr. Palmersheim correctly notes that the bill’s language, now used in amendment form, does ban human cloning, the language unfortunately also means that the amendment impacts legitimate research.
The amendment to the House Higher Education Bill reads as follows:
No state funds or federal funds the state receives for state programs may be used to either support human cloning or to pay for any expenses incidental to human cloning. For purposes of this section, "cloning" means generating a genetically identical copy of an organism at any stage of development by combining an enucleated egg and the nucleus of a somatic cell to make an embryo.
As Mr. Palmersheim also correctly notes, the amendment — in its second paragraph — does not affect or ban some of the stem-cell research currently occurring at the U or Mayo Clinic. The problem is that in an attempt to ban the act of cloning an entire human being, the amendment also bans therapeutic cloning. Therapeutic cloning uses blastocysts. These are made from a woman’s egg and cells from a patient.
These blastocysts are used to reproduce other cells in the body, like heart cells to repair a damaged heart muscle, lung cells to repair a damaged lung, or islet cells in the pancreas to cure diabetes. There are other ways to create these stem cells, but doing it this way provides the most reliable method, and reduces the risk of a patient’s body rejecting the cells, because they’re genetically identical. Much like other stem-cells, they are not viable for human life.
But under the amendment, this form of stem-cell research becomes a misdemeanor, a crime! The amendment doesn’t adequately define “human cloning,” defining it as a “genetically identical copy” — which in turn bans therapeutic cloning. No one at the legislature, DFL or Republican is in favor of reproductive cloning, but therapeutic cloning helps treat and combat disease.
I agree with Mr. Palmersheim that legislating the future can be a “slippery slope”. However, the greater problem in legislation is often unintended consequences. It is arguable if this amendment truly intended to stop major forms of stem-cell research by Minnesota scientists at our University and at the Mayo Clinic, rather than just prevent reproductive cloning. The fact remains that this amendment stops potentially life-saving research. Researchers throughout the state have said that if this ban were to go into effect, they would consider moving their work — and the jobs that go with it — to other states.
Too little information can be a dangerous thing. This amendment will cripple the great work being done at the U, Mayo Clinic, and a host of other research institutions. It will cripple work that could save lives, and it will cripple our research industry. It will move research jobs out of Minnesota. Minnesota has a sterling reputation for health care, research and innovation. This is no time to tarnish it.
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