Chancellors declare support for research
UM system chancellors oppose a ban on somatic nuclear cell tranfer.
Sept. 18, 2007
The four chancellors of the UM system released a statement on Friday expressing their support for interim UM system President Gordon Lamb.
On Sept. 7, Lamb issued a statement blasting a proposed amendment that would ban a type of stem-cell research by state-funded institutions.
"If our students are to be prepared to compete in a global economy, if our state is to be competitive nationally and in the world, and if our research is to be the powerful engine driving Missouri's economy, then our universities must be free to generate and transmit knowledge, within the law, unfettered by outside constraints and particular interests," the chancellors stated.
The UM system's four chancellors are Brady Deaton of MU, John Carney of UM-Rolla, Guy Bailey of UM-Kansas City and Thomas George of UM-St. Louis.
MU spokesman Christian Basi said it is uncommon for the chancellors of all four universities to release a joint statement.
Cures Without Cloning, an organization devoted to prohibiting human cloning in Missouri, proposed a ballot initiative that would restrict somatic nuclear cell transfer, a kind of stem-cell research. The organization could not be reached for comment.
The initiative stated it would bar UM campuses and other state-funded institutions from "research or experiment using a human organism or any part of a human organism derived from cloning or attempting to clone a human being."
Amendment 2, a change to the Missouri Constitution that passed in November 2006, protects stem-cell research while banning all human cloning. It does not prohibit somatic nuclear cell transfer.
The Cures Without Cloning Web site calls this a "loophole," which their initiative would remedy.
MU biology professor Mark Kirk said somatic nuclear cell transfer is a specific kind of stem-cell research wherein an egg is fertilized, but is then used to create stem cells instead of being implanted in a uterus.
Lamb stated that the proposal would impede research at UM system campuses and described it as an "assault" on the state and the UM system.
"The research is a small but critical part of life sciences research that has the potential to give life to people who have serious life-threatening diseases, such as diabetes, Parkinson's, ALS and others, including devastating spinal injuries," he stated.
He stated that research is vital to the university and that it needs protection from "this type of intrusion and control."
In a previous Maneater report, Missouri Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, said there have been some issues of funding and research in the university community, and she added that Lamb showed strong leadership.
"In the end, it is the reputation of the whole state that is at stake here," she said.
//Corrections:
The Sept. 18 report "Chancellors declare support for research" incorrectly quoted MU biology professor Mark Kirk. He said somatic cell nuclear transfer is a specific kind of stem cell research that does not involving fertilizing an egg. Nuclear material is removed from the egg and a donor nucleus is transferred to it. After the egg cell divides several times, embryonic stem cells are extracted and grown in tissue culture.
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