Wisconsin governor plans to veto research cloning ban

The Republican controlled Wisconsin state Senate has passed a bill which would ban all forms of human cloning. The State Governor, Jim Doyle, vowed to veto the measure. The day before the bill was successfully introduced, an amendment which would have allowed cloning for research whilst blocking reproductive cloning was narrowly defeated by 17 votes to 16. The bill, which was passed by the Wisconsin Assembly in June would, if approved, be among the toughest in the US making anyone carrying out this research liable to punishment of up to ten years in prison and $1 million or more in fines. Senator Scott Fitzgerald, a sponsor of the cloning ban, said scientific breakthroughs must not come 'at the expense of every moral and ethical rule.'

The bill, banning all embryonic stem cell (ES cell) research, prevents both reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning. Six other states - Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and both Dakotas - currently also ban both techniques. Ban supporters argue that ES cell research artificially creates, and then destroys new human life. The University of Wisconsin-Madison has made significant advances in stem cell research with Professor James Thomson one of the first scientists in the world to cultivate ES cells. The University currently has more than 30 faculty members involved in stem cell research and Governor Doyle has recently allocated $375 million for the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery, which plans to conduct extensive stem cell research.

Doyle, determined to veto the ban, contends that the measure would harm research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In a statement the Governor said. 'Allowing our scientists to search for cures to the world's deadliest diseases isn't about being liberal or conservative. It's about being compassionate.' Wisconsin Right-To-Life, an anti-abortion group, plans a call-in campaign to persuade the governor to sign the ban. Barbara Lyons, the group's executive director commented, 'Wisconsin is now on record, both houses of the Legislature, to ban all human cloning. The governor is pretty determined to veto the bill but he should also know how the public feels about this measure.'

A few days before the bill was passed, Governor Doyle invested $2 million of state money into a company founded by stem-cell research pioneer Jamie Thomson. The money, in the form of a $1 million grant and $1 million loan from Department of Commerce money set aside to help entrepreneurs, was destined to help Cellular Dynamics International raise private investments to turn research breakthroughs into profitable products. Nick Seay, the company's chief operating officer, said that the $2 million investment will be spent commercialising the technique they have developed to coax ES cells into adult human heart cells. This would allow researchers to test potential drugs using live heart cells for the first time, thereby eventually reducing the need for live animal research. Thomson predicted it would become the first company to profit from human ES cell research.