Groups continue the stem-cell discussion

Amendment 2 is still being challenged in the Missouri General Assembly.

By Andrew Denney

Published April 13, 2007

A highly controversial amendment to Missouri's constitution, which passed last November and nearly ripped the state's voting public in half, continues to ignite scientific, moral and political debate across the state.

In the months since Election Day 2006, legislators and anti-abortion groups have taken steps that might offer a significant reprisal to Amendment 2, which was accepted by 51.2 percent of Missouri voters and protects embryonic stem-cell research in the state from restrictive action by the government.

Missouri Right to Life, an anti-abortion rights group based out of Jefferson City, issued an alert Thursday regarding a Missouri Senate bill that passed in the House Higher Education Committee. The bill would allow the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority to fund any type of research that might "improve students' access or completion of a higher education degree of certificate."

Missouri Right to Life said in the alert that this bill is attempting to "provide legal cover for the MOHELA sale," which refers to the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative proposed by Gov. Matt Blunt in January 2006. The initiative would allow the sale of MOHELA assets and provide $350 million for higher education projects in Missouri — a measure that the group opposes because as stated on its Web site, the money could be used to fund facilities that seek to "kill embryonic humans to harvest their stem cells."

MU would receive more than $40 million from the plan. The majority of that, $31 million, would be appropriated to the Ellis Fischel Cancer Hospital in place of the $85 million Life Sciences Research Center that MU had originally intended to build with the funds, and $12 million would go toward agriculture research projects.

Missouri Right to Life opposed a budget appropriation passed by the House that would provide $13.4 million to a trust fund for life science research.

Roger Mitchell, former dean of agriculture at MU and chairman of the Life Sciences Research Board — a committee appointed by Blunt to oversee the appropriation of life sciences funding — said the money will be used to fund research in bio-fuels and other programs unrelated to embryonic stem-cell research.

"We believe Missouri has exceptional capacity to work in these areas," Mitchell said. "We are grateful they are considering some allocation."

Mitchell said the board had originally suggested $35.7 million for life sciences funding, but the state government used $20 million to fund health care programs.

Missouri Right to Life legislative liaison Susan Klein said the government would, according to the stipulations established by Amendment 2, have no control over the allocation of funds provided to the research board.

Klein said there is potential that the monies allocated to the board would be used for unethical research related to embryonic stem-cell research.

Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said Missouri Right to Life's claims are "absolutely false," and the organization has misinterpreted Amendment 2.

He said the organization is trying to "find a cloner under every rock."

Bearden said Missouri Right to Life and some organizations that have voiced opposition to Amendment 2 have distorted the legislature.

"I think they do a disservice in trying to correct the problems that do exist," Bearden said.

Bearden said the money provided to the trust fund is intended for use for the purposes already stated by the board.

"If we appropriate it for a specific purpose, should they violate it, nothing prevents us from holding their feet to the fire," Bearden said.

Bearden and Missouri Right to Life both support a House joint resolution passed March 27 in the House Health Care Policy Committee. The resolution would restructure the wording in Amendment 2 to prohibit research cloning.

The existing version of Amendment 2 prohibits reproductive cloning. The measure was passed in the committee by one vote.

Rep. Craig Bland, D-Kansas City, was absent for the vote, but committee Chairman Rep. Wayne Cooper, R-Camdenton, called for a vote despite Bland's absence.

The bill will be sent to the House Rules Committee and if passed, brought to a full House debate.

Rep. Jake Zimmerman, D-Olivette, who served as a legal adviser to former Gov. Bob Holden when the trust fund was established in 2003, said Missouri is a life sciences powerhouse and more funding should be given to life sciences.

"We can't be putting silly strings on it," Zimmerman said. "We can't cave to ideological forces. You've got to stand up for research."

Zimmerman said legislation restricting funding to life sciences research could discourage potential entrepreneurs and researchers from locating in Missouri.

Rob Rose, spokesman for Donald Danforth Plant Science Research Center, said Missouri is in danger of falling behind other states in life sciences research due to restrictive government measures.

"The state has not taken a productive approach for funding the capacity of life sciences research," Rose said.