At The Capitol / Stem cell bill OK’d with cloning ban

02/28/2007

Jeremy Olson
Pioneer Press


A House committee advanced legislation supporting Minnesota taxpayer funding for embryonic stem cell research Tuesday after it was changed to exclude human cloning.

The bill makes reproductive cloning a felony but allows researchers to obtain stem cells through somatic cell nuclear transfer, or therapeutic cloning. Opponents said the bill presents a "slippery slope" toward cloning a person and that the committee didn't know enough about therapeutic cloning to support it.

"We are going down a road that is very, very dark," said Rep. Rob Eastland, R-Isanti.

Embryonic stem cells grow other cells and tissues, and researchers at the University of Minnesota are studying the cells' ability to treat a variety of diseases.

All embryonic stem cell lines have been derived from embryos left over from infertility treatments. However, scientists are intrigued by the nuclear transfer process, which involves removing the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with cells from a living person.

The stem cells created in that process would be a genetic match to the donor, which would theoretically make them more effective treatments for that specific person.

The vote by the House higher education and work-force development committee was 12-7.