Posted on 03/24/2006 6:56:08 PM PST by Coleus
Legislators who view embryonic stem cell research as human cloning won first-round approval Thursday in the House for a proposal to encourage alternatives in finding cures for diseases.
The measure would set up new state funds to finance research with adult stem cells or blood from newborns' umbilical cords, then grant a tax break to Kansans who contribute to either fund. Backers couldn't say how much the tax breaks would cost but hope to attract millions of dollars in contributions.
The House voted 71-46 to add the proposal to an unrelated bill. Another voice vote advanced the amended legislation to final action, which is expected Friday. The developments came a day after the Senate rejected a proposal to prohibit taxpayer funding of research using embryonic stem cells. It was the session's first major debate on stem cell research and human cloning. "We still need to ban human cloning, but at the same time, we need to let people know where the success is," said sponsoring Rep. Mary Pilcher Cook, R-Shawnee. "It's not from human cloning. It's not from embryonic stem cells."
Embryonic stem cell research - and whether it represents human cloning - are hot topics in Missouri, where a group of researchers and patient advocacy groups hopes to place a proposed constitutional amendment protecting the research on the ballot. Officials, researchers and philanthropists also hope to turn the Kansas City metropolitan area into a national hub for biosciences research. Last year, Kansas lawmakers approved legislation designed to stimulate related industry.
Pilcher Cook's proposal drew criticism because some saw it as an attempt to micromanage the Kansas Biosciences Authority, which the state set up last year to oversee efforts to stimulate new research and businesses. She said she simply wants to make Kansas a leader in research with adult stem cell and umbilical cord blood. Under the bill, investors in either state fund would receive an income tax credit equal to half of the amount of their contributions.
However, the language of her proposal signaled her feelings about embryonic stem cell research, calling her effort to encourage alternatives, "The Ethical Research Act." At issue is a process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. Researchers replace the nucleus of an unfertilized human egg with the nucleus of another cell, stimulate growth in a lab dish and remove the resulting stem cells.
Supporters of such research argue that it's not human cloning because it doesn't involve male sperm cells and couldn't create a fetus. Critics, who include many anti-abortion activists, consider it cloning because an egg with 23 human chromosomes ends up with a complete set of 46. In rejecting a ban on taxpayer funding of such research Wednesday, some senators acknowledged they didn't know enough about the science involved. They also worried that the state would be blocking research necessary to find cures for cancer, diabetes or Parkinson's disease. In the House, Pilcher Cook's proposal seemed less troublesome because it dealt with encouraging one kind of research, not preventing another.
House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, said he didn't object to her proposal but wished it had received more thorough study.
"We have to be very careful about these issues," said McKinney, D-Greensburg. "It can have an impact on health. It can have an impact on the research dollars we can attract." --- Senate budget: SB 573. On the Net: Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org
S.658 Brownback-Landrieu Human Cloning Prohibition Act
Bravo! Makes me proud to be a Kansan!
(It will be interesting to see the Culture of Death try to spin this as Kansas being 'anti-science'. Their gyrations will get more and more bizarre with each cure bases on adult stem cells or cord blood stem cells that comes out of a Kansas lab.)
Good job on the Kansan's part.
Don't miss this thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1602858/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1602642/posts
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