US stem cell news

Michael Steele, the Republican deputy Governor of the US state of Maryland, has clarified his position on human embryonic stem cell (ES cell) research, after comparing it to the science and medical experimentation used by Nazis during the Holocaust. Steele explained that what he meant to convey was the need to be responsible with research that uses human embryos. He went on to say that he has 'qualified support' for ES cell research, adding 'I support embryonic stem cell research. However, I am cautious of the science and want the scientists and politicians to be smart in how we approach it'. He continued by saying that 'I don't want this research to go forward without some moral compass to guide the research'. Robert Erlich, the state's Governor, has recently put forward proposals to spend $20 million of public money on ES cell research, a move that Steele said he supports. However, he would prefer to see the money spent on research into ways of conducting ES cell research without requiring the destruction of an embryo.

Meanwhile, in Missouri, Senator Jim Talent was withdrawn his support for a controversial ban on human cloning and offered what he described as a compromise proposal that could bridge the divide over ES cell research. He said that the US Congress is 'deadlocked' over a federal ban on human cloning - including a bill on which he appears as co-sponsor, which has been debated for over four years. Now, however, he says that the US should ban embryo cloning, but fund technology that allows ES cell research to take place while avoiding the destruction of embryos.

After an 'emotional debate', the Mississippi House of Representatives has passed a bill (no. 1202) banning human cloning in the state, by 108 votes to four. It will now pass to the Senate for deliberation. Much of the debate focused on a failed amendment that would have banned cloning for reproductive purposes only, while allowing cloning to be undertaken for medical research purposes, thus allowing ES cell research to take place on cloned embryos.

Representative John Mayo, who proposed the amendment, said that this would represent the best compromise, because 'we are politicians who don't know diddly squat' about different kinds of stem cells and the process known as therapeutic cloning. One woman who had been campaigning against the bill, as her child has juvenile diabetes, said that she thought the bill had been passed to 'keep up appearances' - she said that she had spoken to several lawmakers before the debate and a number of them appeared to be most worried about how support for the bill would be interpreted by voters. 'Several of them told me they were afraid of the people at home who would interpret it as being not pro-life', she said.

Finally, the Senate and Assembly of the state of New York have agreed to support a proposal from 17 universities in the state to establish a stem cell research fund. In doing so, they relied on a study undertaken by the universities which shows that a growing number of states are investing in ES cell research in the absence of federal funding. The study, called 'New York and Stem Cell Research', is a comprehensive analysis of the scientific, therapeutic, and economic issues surrounding ES cells, and details the competitive research environment that has emerged in the US in the years since the federal policy was put into place in 2001. New York's universities are concerned about the implications of falling behind other states in this area of research.