State Representative Phyllis Kahn
365 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4257
For Immediate Release
For more information contact:
Posted: 6/6/2008
OP/ED COLUMN
Governor and Republican Legislators Out-of-Touch With Minnesotans on Stem Cell Research
The Governor sent a letter to the legislature last year when a bill on stem cell research began moving through the Legislature. At that time he said stem cell research "offers tremendous opportunities to improve human health and well-being by addressing serious diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer's. As a matter of public policy, stem-cell research deserves careful consideration and bipartisan support."
Most Democrats in the Minnesota legislature agree with that assessment, and passed a bill this year to authorize stem cell research at the University of Minnesota. While no funding was included, the bill laid the scientific and medical basis for stem cells research, outlawed human cloning, and enabled Minnesota to join other states on the cutting edge of medical and scientific research.
Unfortunately, the bill did not pass with bipartisan support, only 3 of 71 Republicans in the state legislature joined Democrats to move Minnesota forward on stem-cell research. And late last Friday afternoon, Governor Pawlenty vetoed the bill.
In his veto message to the Legislature, the Governor said he "supports stem cell research that is consistent with sound ethical and moral standards." He objected to the sanctioned use of "embryonic stem cells" that "destroy live embryos" and pointed to a November 2007 study by the University of Wisconsin and Kyoto University in Japan about the development of induced-pluripotent stem (iPS) cell from individual adult stem cells, as a means to move forward with non-embryonic stem cell research.
However, the Governor's implication that this adult-stem cell research offers the same scientific value than research conducted without embryonic stem cells is misleading at best. In fact, the research Governor Pawlenty champions by University of Wisconsin and Kyoto University scientists would not have been possible without the ongoing embryonic stem cell research at those very institutions.
Currently researchers are working in all directions using technologies including adult stem cells. However, this research is dependant on the parallel work being done with embryonic stem cells that set the standard basis for success. We will not be able to maximize the potential of adult stem cell science without the full utilization of embryonic stem cell science.
Furthermore, scientists have serious doubt that iPS cells will replace embryonic stem cells in human therapies. To make these iPS cells, scientists use retroviruses to transfer the reprogramming genes into the cells. Currently, these retroviruses are believed to be potentially cancer-causing viruses. Unfortunately, undereducated opponents of embryonic stem cell research applaud this first discovery and ignore the later more cautious discussion of its limits and dangers.
The stem cell research bill we passed carefully balances ethical and medical considerations, as it must. It is based on an understanding of the science associated with stem cell research and grounded in a thorough consideration of the ethical concerns regarding this research.
It is important to point out that nothing in the bill would allow the destruction of human embryos destined for life. The cells used in this research would come from stored embryos, invariably destined for destruction anyway, and donated to researchers by fully informed and consenting owners.
Open scientific inquiry and publicly funded research will be essential to realizing the promise of stem cell research and to maintain Minnesota's leadership in biomedicine and biotechnology. Publicly funded stem cell research, conducted under established standards of open scientific exchange, peer review, and public oversight, offers the most efficient and responsible means of fulfilling the promise of stem cells to provide regenerative medical therapies.
In addition, the United States and Minnesota have historically been a haven for open scientific inquiry and technological innovation. The biomedical industry is a critical and growing component of Minnesota's economy and we are significantly diminishing future economic growth opportunities by imposing limitations on stem cell research while states like Wisconsin are already moving forward.
The Governor sent over his veto message on the stem cell research bill late last Friday afternoon, while many Minnesotans were already enjoying their 3-day Memorial Day Weekend. When you look at the scientific merits of the vetoed stem cell bill and contemplate the values and opinions of Minnesotans on this issue, the timing seems less than coincidental. He was hoping you wouldn't notice.
Governor Pawlenty and Republicans in the Minnesota legislature are vastly out of touch with the values of most Minnesotans who want our state to be a leader in the efforts to fulfill the promise that stem cell research offers.
(Printed in Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 2008)