Stem cell scientists fear election impact

Lansing -- All but two of the gubernatorial candidates in Tuesday's primary oppose stem cell research, raising concerns that scientific efforts will be ratcheted back even before they take root in the state.

Voters two years ago approved a constitutional amendment allowing the research, but the Senate has passed a package of bills calling for reporting requirements and regulations, which researchers oppose. Supporters of stem cell research say there's no need for additional limits other than those contained in the constitutional amendment. Backers of the proposed legislation contend it is intended to clarify the ballot proposal.

Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan's Center for Stem Cell Biology, said opposition from state leaders could create implementation and image problems.

"We are very concerned," Morrison said. "People voted to constitutionally protect this type of research. It would be an open question if we get a governor who is opposed to this, whether the governor and the Legislature could find a way to impede this research."

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who supports stem cell research, has pledged to veto regulatory legislation passed by the Senate. But she leaves office Jan. 1.

Michigan competes with California, Massachusetts, New York and other states for scientists who conduct embryonic stem cell research, Morrison said.

"The best young researchers won't come to the state if there are any questions about this," he said. "Other state governments are not bickering; they're actually helping to fund the research."

Bernard Siegel, executive director of the Genetics Policy Institute in Wellington, Fla., said Michigan is the only state that passed a constitutional amendment permitting stem cell research and now is considering legislation to narrow its scope.

Foes are trying "to throw up roadblocks to undercut the intent of voters," said Siegel, a national expert on the issue, who is helping to bring an international summit on stem cell research to Detroit in October.

Carol Brenner, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Wayne State University, said she's also concerned about the state backpedaling on the research.

"It will hurt the research at the universities. Why would young faculty come to a state where the leaders oppose stem cell research?" she said.

Foes of research

Republican gubernatorial candidates who oppose embryonic stem cell research on moral and religious grounds are Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Attorney General Mike Cox, state Sen. Tom George of Kalamazoo and U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Holland, and the Democratic candidate is House Speaker Andy Dillon of Redford Township. "Mike Bouchard has been on the record for years that life should not be created in a lab," said Kathryn Martin, spokeswoman for the Bouchard camp.

Republican Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder and Democratic Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero favor the research. "It is vital to furthering our search for treatments and cures," Bernero said.

Candidates who oppose the research acknowledge the voters have spoken on the matter.

"As governor, I pledge to not interfere with the decision made by voters," Dillon said.

But some favor the legislation to regulate research.

"Whenever a constitutional amendment is approved, legislation is required to implement the law with appropriate oversight," Cox said when asked if he supports the limits proposed in the Senate.

Added Sara Sendek, spokeswoman for Hoekstra: "Pete also supports additional oversight and standards accompanying the amendment" that have been passed by the Senate.

Amendment approved

Voters approved a constitutional amendment 53 percent to 47 percent that expands the use of human embryos for research permitted under federal law. The embryos must be created for fertility treatment, would be discarded unless used for research and must be donated by the person seeking the treatment.

The state Senate has passed a package of bills, backed by Right to Life of Michigan, that would require researchers and the Department of Community Health to file annual reports, bar the sale or purchase of human embryos for research, require written consent from those donating the embryos and prohibit transporting into Michigan an embryo created through cloning. Violators would face fines and jail or prison time.

The bills have not passed the House, but some provisions are attached to the higher education spending bill in a House-Senate conference committee, said Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.

Ed Rivet, lobbyist for Right to Life of Michigan, said the legislation is "standard cleanup stuff, nothing more." He called concerns stem cell research will be impeded "absurd."

"We're not going to drive researchers from the state; we're not going to reverse Proposal 2. This is not going to harm stem cell research one iota," Rivet said. "The sky is not falling."

He said there are no plans to introduce any other legislation to curtail stem cell research, even if an anti-abortion governor is elected.

George, an anesthesiologist who led opposition to the ballot proposal, is a sponsor of the research regulation package. But he said: "I fully respect the will of the people who voted to allow such research."

Snyder, who says he's anti-abortion, struggled with the issue of embryonic stem cell research.

"I ultimately decided that stem cell research and its possible life-giving potential would be a better alternative than discarding unused embryos," he said. "It is also my hope that scientific advances in the use of adult stem cells will soon make embryonic stem cell research unnecessary."