Expert says cloning ban would hurt Nebraska
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By TIMBERLY ROSS / The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. — A state ban on all human cloning would give Nebraska a “black eye” and harm some of its research institutions, contends one of the state’s leading stem cell experts.
“If it happens here, it won’t be good for us,” said Dr. David Crouse, an administrator and professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
His comments come as the state Legislature considers a bill (LB700) that would ban reproductive cloning and the creation of embryos for stem cell research using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer — more commonly referred to as therapeutic cloning. It would also prohibit the import of cells, embryos and other items produced through the cloning process, including potential treatments.
Nebraska Legislature: www.nebraskalegislature.gov
The Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing on the bill for Wednesday.
Similar bills have been proposed by state lawmakers in the past, but none has made it to a final floor vote. The latest bill, introduced by Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial, was co-signed by a majority of state senators, an indication that passage is likely.
Lawmakers in 16 states have passed legislation regarding cloning, but only five states ban both reproductive and therapeutic cloning. Iowa, which passed similar legislation in 2002, last week eased restrictions on therapeutic cloning.
California and New Jersey have laws that specifically permit cloning for research purposes.
Currently, there is no federal law that governs cloning. Legislation has been introduced on both sides of the issue.
Crouse said he isn’t opposed to a ban, even a federal one, on reproductive cloning. But, he said, therapeutic cloning is “cutting edge” science that should be allowed to flourish.
If Nebraska lawmakers enact the proposed Human Cloning Prohibition Act, Crouse said, he would expect the state to be the subject of jokes by late-night TV talk show hosts.
The jokes — akin to those about evolution teachings in Kansas — would point out the irony that some states encourage the science of cloning while Nebraska would criminalize it, he said.
The proposed cloning ban would make violators guilty of a Class IV felony, which is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both.
Chip Maxwell, executive director of the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research, said he doesn’t buy Crouse’s assertion that Nebraska will become a punch line.
“If you looked around the country, you’ll see a mixed bag” as far as cloning policies go, he said. “There’s no trend one way or the other.”
The coalition, which is led mostly by doctors, supports a cloning ban that would prohibit both reproductive and therapeutic cloning. It calls that type of research unethical.
“Let’s capitalize on other forms of research,” Maxwell said.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center currently doesn’t clone human embryos for reproductive purposes or to harvest stem cells for research on how to cure diseases, and there is a universitywide policy against doing so.
But, Crouse said, enacting a state law in line with that policy would have a stifling effect on research. It would be — and already has been — problematic in hiring and retaining researchers and in attracting research funding, he said.
“Just in the face of things being discussed,” Crouse said, the university has lost a substantial amount of research funding to California and has had problems recruiting stem cell researchers to direct the stem cell biology program.
A similar phenomena was seen in Iowa after it passed its total ban on human cloning in 2002.
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, who had urged lawmakers to repeal the law, said the state was at a competitive disadvantage with Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri, which were moving forward to build research facilities and luring away researchers.
The Iowa Legislature passed legislation to ease the ban last month. Culver signed it into law Wednesday.
Culver has also pushed lawmakers to approve additional funding for stem cell research facilities, including $12.5 million to build a Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Iowa.
Maxwell said the theory that Nebraska will suffer under a cloning ban, either from a lack of research money or researchers, is a “the sky’s going to fall argument,” like in the children’s story “Chicken Little.”
There are many reasons a researcher would choose to work — or not work — at a particular institution, and a cloning policy would just be one of them, he said.
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WCG wrote on March 5, 2007 7:52 am:
Unbelievable... wrote on March 5, 2007 8:37 am:
Theocracy-bound wrote on March 5, 2007 9:20 am:
Kent wrote on March 5, 2007 10:54 am:
Ohhhh... wrote on March 5, 2007 1:28 pm:
Nobody is being intolerant of your opinion. We are all entitled to them. However, when science (outside the state of Nebraska where the holier than thou's reside) does develop a cure for a deadly disease, I fully expect you to deny this cure for yourself or a loved one on the grounds that it was found using a method that is against your belief system. "
Don C. Reed wrote on March 7, 2007 6:36 am:
Rayilyn Brown wrote on March 8, 2007 10:53 am: