LINCOLN — Four of the eight voting members of the University of Nebraska’s Board of Regents are co-sponsoring a resolution to restrict embryonic stem cell research to cell lines approved under then-President George W. Bush.
Regent Randy Ferlic, one of the co-sponsors, said Thursday the resolution would eliminate any “ambiguities” about whether current state law and university policy allow researchers to use new cell lines once they are approved by the Obama administration.
The regents are expected to take up the resolution at their Nov. 20 meeting.
University officials and abortion opponents have been debating how new federal policies on embryonic stem cell research will affect Nebraska since they were announced.
NU President J.B. Milliken said last month that current policies permit researchers to use the new cell lines. He recommended that the regents allow the research to take place. Milliken based his conclusion on a legal opinion from the university’s general counsel, Joel D. Pedersen.
Besides Ferlic, the other sponsors of the resolution are Tim Clare of Lincoln, Bob Phares of North Platte and Howard Hawks of Omaha. Four votes, however, would not be enough for the board to approve the resolution.
Regent Jim McClurg of Lincoln — who, like Ferlic, Clare, Phares and Hawks, won the endorsement of Nebraska Right to Life in his most recent election — was not named as a co-sponsor of the resolution.
Clare said McClurg was invited to help draft the resolution but declined to participate.
McClurg said today that he wanted to hear comments from interested parties during next Friday’s meeting before he makes a decision on the policy.
“There’s a lot of good people on both sides of this issue who have heartfelt opinions on it,” he said. “I’ll decide once I’ve heard what everybody has to say.”
Regents Chuck Hassebrook of Lyons and Kent Schroeder of Kearney said they would oppose the resolution. Regent Bob Whitehouse of Papillion could not be reached today but previously has said he supports embryonic stem cell research.
“My view has always been that this is lifesaving research,” said Hassebrook. “Our work is such that it’s not going to take a single life, but it has the potential to save millions ... from such awful diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.”
Schroeder, who is board chairman, said current university policy should remain in effect.
He said Legislative Bill 606, passed 48-0 last year and signed by Gov. Dave Heineman, states that federal guidelines should govern embryonic stem cell research in Nebraska.
“I’m a supporter of embryonic stem cell research, just like 48 state senators and Gov. Heineman,” he said. “For the life of me, I can’t imagine how 48 senators and the governor would think President Bush would be president for life.”
Clare said the resolution also calls on Nebraska researchers to shift away from embryonic stem cell research to use adult stem cells and “induced pluripotent stem cells”: other cells that can be induced to behave like embryonic stem cells.
Ferlic said the Regents should act and that he disagrees that LB 606 set the policy for the University of Nebraska.
A medical doctor with a deep interest in the area, Ferlic said he believes NU scientists should pursue other areas of research that he believes are potentially more fruitful in the search for cures for neurodegenerative diseases.
“I’ve always felt the science wasn’t there (with embryonic stem cell research), and there’s false hope being held out to people with these maladies,” he said.
Since 2001, University of Nebraska policy on embryonic stem cell research has banned cloning and producing embryos solely for research. The policy has required researchers to follow federal guidelines.
In August 2001, Bush restricted federally funded research to existing lines of stem cells, meaning that no additional embryos could be destroyed.
In his legal opinion, Pedersen concluded that neither the law nor university policy restricted Nebraska researchers to only the stem cell lines approved under the Bush guidelines.
Nebraska Right to Life executive director Julie Schmit-Albin has said her organization and other anti-abortion groups did not agree that last year’s legislative compromise would be the final word should federal policy change.
The three lawmakers who brokered the compromise – Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk, and Sens. Steve Lathrop and Brad Ashford of Omaha — issued a letter Thursday confirming that the agreement did not prohibit concerned parties from seeking policy changes from the Board of Regents.
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