Phyllis Kahn: Pawlenty thwarted effort to further stem-cell research

Last year, when a bill on stem-cell research began moving through the Legislature, Gov. Tim Pawlenty sent lawmakers a letter saying that such 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 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 gain bipartisan support; only three of 71 Republicans in the Legislature joined Democrats in voting for the bill. And on the Friday before Memorial Day, Pawlenty vetoed it.

In his veto message, 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) cells from individual adult stem cells, as a means to move forward with non-embryonic stem cell research.

However, the governor's implication that this offers the same scientific value as research conducted without embryonic stem cells is misleading at best. In fact, the research Pawlenty champions would not have been possible without 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 dependent 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 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.

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 destined for destruction, 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 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.

The governor sent over his veto message when many Minnesotans were already enjoying their three-day holiday weekend. The timing seems less than coincidental. He was hoping you wouldn't notice.

Gov. Pawlenty and Republicans in the 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.

Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, is a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives.