GOP Lawmakers Declare Support for State-Funded Stem-Cell Research

ALBANY- A small band of Republican state senators came out in support of state-funded stem cell research yesterday, narrowing a divide in the chamber that has kept New York from hopping on the funding bandwagon that followed California’s decision last year to approve billions in subsidies for the emerging field.Senator Nicholas Spano, a Republican of Westchester, said he recently convinced five colleagues to back a bill that would provide to researchers $100 million a year for 10 years through a nonprofit organization that would be established by the state. Although it would provide less money, the bill would mirror the California statute, which specifically favors research that is not funded by the federal government.That would include the study of stem cells that have been created for the purpose of research, in addition to those that are created in the course of in-vitro fertilization. Private researchers in America are not prohibited from either practice, which have flourished at universities and private firms for years. But the federal government has explicitly denied funding to research involving the creation of human embryos since 1995.Mr. Spano’s bill, which could be introduced as soon as next week, would require the support of the Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, in order to be brought to a vote. It would also require the signature of Governor Pataki, who told reporters yesterday that he supports stem cell research” in general “but that the state’s existing programs take pride of place. The implication was that such a big-ticket item may have to wait.Mr. Spano announced his bill the same day that Sheldon Silver, the Democrat of Manhattan who leads the state Assembly, proposed a plan to fund stem cell research by tapping into state funds that are currently earmarked for health care. By proposing to draw the money from available state funds, rather than through bonds, Mr. Silver was indicating increased support among legislators for the bill than in previous years.The Assembly has introduced a stem cell bill three years in a row, but this is the first year a Republican sponsor has emerged in the Senate for similar legislation. Mr. Spano announced the backing of his five Republican colleagues at a lobbying event hosted by the group New Yorkers for the Advancement of Medical Research.Mr. Spano’s announcement was greeted by loud applause, with one guest shouting at the senator to identify the supporters by name. He did: They are Senators James Seward, John Bonacic, Vincent Leibell, Stephen Saland, and George Winner.Following the event, Mr. Bonacic said the bill was conceived on a smaller scale than California’s in order to make it more palatable to lawmakers. “Realistically, with something like this we’re trying to get some breakthrough, some moneys. I think if the advocates of this got 25% of this they would be happy.”Democratic supporters of the funding said they were encouraged by the Republican show of support. Senate Minority Leader David Paterson, a Democrat of Harlem, said the increased numbers suggest a majority may be in place to drive the legislation. Mr. Paterson proposed a bill in January calling for the state to provide $1 billion for stem cell research. At the time of the proposal, no Republican in the Senate had expressed open support for the bill.Significant obstacles stand in the way of the bill’s passage. Legislation that lacks majority support among Republicans in the Senate rarely makes it to the floor for a vote. And with 35 Republicans in the chamber, the support of six members makes it unlikely the Senate will put Mr. Spano’s bill on the legislative calendar. Even if the bill were to make it past the Senate, Mr. Pataki could veto it.Faced with these odds, lobbyists poured into legislative offices yesterday in search of a compromise.A spokesman for Mr. Bruno, John McArdle, said the Republican Conference will likely address the issue this session, even if not in the way Mr. Spano and his Democratic allies on the issue have imagined.Mr. McArdle put the issue of stem cell research in the context of Mr. Bruno’s strong support for other scientific initiatives throughout the state. “This would certainly complement what we are doing, but there are valid concerns about how it is pursued,” Mr. McArdle said. “We are very interested in additional stem cell research.”The issue of stem cell research gained national prominence seven years ago when researchers at the University of Wisconsin isolated human embryonic stem cells for the first time. The regenerative properties of the stem cells were thought to hold immense therapeutic promise and led many in the research community to propose lifting a federal funding ban for any research that involves the destruction of human embryos.It was this law, known as the “Dickey Amendment,” that President Bush affirmed, in large part, when he prohibited the use of federal funds for the creation of new human embryos in a 2001 televised address.Following Mr. Bush’s executive order, several states initiated plans to provide funding of their own for embryonic stem cell research. California’s plan, which was approved by a voter referendum in November, was the most dramatic. It provides private researchers with $300 million a year for 10 years through a nonprofit organization called the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.Other states that have approved state funding for stem cell research include New Jersey, Connecticut, and Minnesota.In New York, lawmakers who support state funding for embryonic stem cell research have cast the issue as economic. They say the state is already experiencing a brain drain from scientists who have chosen to leave in search of financial support in states like California and New Jersey. “Other states are doing it, and we have all the abilities to do it here,” Mr. Silver said yesterday. “We don’t want to lose our scientists.”Others, including Mr. Bruno, have urged caution in light of ethical concerns that arise from the nature of the research that the federal government, under Mr. Bush, has decided not to support. A professor of human biology at Stanford University who is a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics, William Hurlbut, has suggested an alternative method of extracting stem cells from human embryos that does not involve their destruction.He said such a solution would disentangle the issues that divide legislators on the issue. “I believe there are moral ways to get embryonic stem cells,” Mr. Hurlbut said. “I believe that both sides of this difficult debate are defending important human goods. There are no fools in this debate. But both goods are important.”

GOP Lawmakers Declare Support for State-Funded Stem-Cell Research

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