Spitzer's Stem Cell Plan Puts Ethics First

It's in The Times ... writes Confessore:

The grants themselves would be subject to peer review by a new Stem Cell Commission, which would also be responsible for enforcing the research guidelines. Those measures, Mr. Paterson said, would ensure that all embryonic research in New York was "legal, vital and ethical."

Oh and he's upped the ante - to $2 billion.
[hat tips: Greg Dahlmann, Jim Fossett]

No Pressure, Jon

San Francisco Chronicle reports that Robert Klein, real estate magnate and chair of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Proposition 71-funded Master of Ceremonies for $3 billion in stem cell research to be doled out beginning in May, has at long last given an interview. In it he discusses the controversy concerning when the money will be given out for stem cell research, and more important the rules that will be used by CIRM to do so.

The guidelines are required by Proposition 71, and while it can revise the guidelines that it puts in place now, it needs good guidelines at the outset, not only because of the law but because of swirling controversy in California about the ties of CIRM board members to the institutions that will be asking for money.

So where will these guidelines come from? The National Academies, who have engaged Virginia bioethicist Jonathan Moreno to run a committee on model guidelines for conducting stem cell research.

'It would be better for us all to be on the same page,' said Jonathan Moreno, director of a biomedical ethics center at the University of Virginia and co-chair of the National Academies committee. During a telephone interview Wednesday, Moreno said the national [Academies?] guidelines are expected to be out by April after a final round of outside reviews and revisions. 'The committee has been running since August, and people say, 'Gee, you're taking a long time,' ' Moreno said. 'But this is hard. For academics, this is a breakneck pace.'

It will be helpful indeed for California's stem cell funding group to get the Moreno committee report, which will join several other sets of recommendations on how individual states', states collectively, and the nation should pursue specific standards for stem cell research.

But it is difficult to see how any group writing guidelines for national stem cell policy - or even for state and national policy - can cover both the issues inherent in national dilemmas, and the issues present in the states' differing legal, clinical, political, economic, and social situations, and still be finished in eight months.

And in this case, Moreno and his group are being asked to produce a report that does all of this while taking care to address the issues about model guidelines that would be appropriate to the very, very special "California world," with its own behemoth budget and complex allocation issues.

It remains to be seen whether California will create its own ethics group or ethics research division within Proposition 71, and it would be dangerous indeed for the state to avoid doing so. California state stem cell policy might not be something you want - for the long term anyway - to have "phoned in" at the last minute. What Californians really need to do is hire Jonathan Moreno away from Virginia! - Glenn McGee

New Jersey May Put Big $ Into Stem Cell Research

Codey may tip hand in speech, according to the Gloucester County Times:

Acting Gov. Richard Codey is set to face a joint session of the Legislature on Tuesday and deliver the sole State of the State address of his 14-month tenure. Among the topics Codey is expected to address: a proposal for $500 million to fund stem cell research; a $2.35 increase in the state's minimum wage; and plans to improve care for the mentally ill.

All anyone in New Jersey politics seems to care about, though, is "Gov. James E. McGreevey's scandal-shortened tenure." Get over it.

And the Next State to look into Embryonic Stem Cell Research is ...

Connecticut may be the next state to look into funding embryonic stem cell research. For Connecticut State Senator Larry Miller, who is spearheading the issue, the issue strikes particularly close to home: after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma several years ago, he believes that his life was saved with an autologous bone marrow transplant, using his own adult stem cells from his bone marrow. Although this treatment is not controversial, Miller's personal experience and concern for others with serious diseases, is what drives him to push for stem cell research in Connecticut. He and another senator wrote a bill last year to allow stem cell research; the Senate approved the bill, but the House opted to study the issue for another year. There is a possibility that the research might be funded with $10 to $20 million from the state’s surplus, as a one-time expense toward stem cell research.

Dear Geron. Please, Please Stay in Maryland. California is ... Well ... They Don't Have Annapolis!

The Herald-Mail ONLINE reports that Maryland is going to try to scrape together some money to compete with California. Will Geron move to California? You've got to wonder just how much more complicated state stem cell politics can get.

Pennsylvania on State Stem Cell Money

"Us too." But perhaps money isn't enough in Pennsylvania, where destruction of an embryo seems to be a class 3 felony. Efforts to change that law (in my [Glenn's] state-based bioethics class at Penn, in cooperation with Pennsylvania State Senator Alison Schwartz) fell flat on their face; she was even threatened with retribution.

Why No Bioethics on the California Proposition 71 Governing Council?

Why doesn't California put a bioethicist on its Proposition 71 governing board dealing with the $3 billion to be allocated for stem cell research? University Chancellors and Presidents are being nominated up and down as schools' and institutes' top guns clamor to be public intellectuals on this big-ticket funding item, no doubt in part to ensure that their shop gets some of the money. The proposition guarantees seats on the board to some institutions (including the 5 UCal schools), but why in the world can't there be some slots dedicated to bioethics?

No matter what your position on stem cell research, there simply must be a dedicated stem cell ethics expert among the governors. If it weren't so serious a matter, one would have to laugh at the idea that these University and institute administrators are properly trained to think about how and whether to dispense the money and for which studies. It is a question several are beginning to ask anew, echoing concerns from those who opposed Prop 71 but themselves supported hES research. Bioethics in California has always been a developing phenomenon, although the Stanford center is arguably among the top programs in the nation. Hopefully at least some of the ballast for deliberations about which programs should be funded will be provided by people in stem cell bioethics in California. But that is a very, very short list of people.

Even more important, California should finally begin to build up some bioethics programs, particularly in the universities that plan to do significant new stem cell research. If the past is any predictor, that will not be easily accomplished in California, where bioethics has just never really taken a foothold in terms of university budgets and powerhouse faculties. There are plenty of good people in bioethics in California, but it is difficult to identify a group of major research centers in bioethics in the state, despite its preeminent place in biotechnology research. Proposition 71 should be the full employment act for California bioethics, to borrow Art Caplan's description of the role ethics money in the Human Genome Project had on bioethics in the 1990s. But if it is business as usual in the most populous state in the nation, bioethics may become an unfunded sport for university CEOs. That would not only hurt bioethics, it would hurt the people of California, who are clearly hoping for a careful, smart use of the $3 billion windfall for stem cells. For them, ethics has to stay in the mix in a serious way.

Illinois' Stem Cell Aspirations Take a Dive

Illinois Senate has moments ago canned its amendment promoting stem cell work in the state. The story is still developing but Wesley Smith posted it on MCW. More:

The defeat of the amended version of HB 3859, which opponents argued would allow "laboratory cloning" as part of stem cell research, depended upon the votes of Downstate Democrats. Republican senators Kirk Dillard, Christine Radogno and Adeleine Geo-Karis broke ranks with the Republican caucus and voted to support the measure.

Illinois is Coming for the Stem Cell Pot, Too

While the national press continues to speculate on what President Bush will do if anything with respect to modifying his 'ban' on Federal funds for embryonic stem cell research the reality is that the battle is for all intents and purposes over. The only issue remaining is which states will follow California and either permit or fund stem cell research. Illinois looks like it is very close to being the next state to work around the Federal ban. - Art Caplan

Wisconsin Worries it Will Fall Behind in Stem Cell Research?

Gazing at the California initiative proposed in Proposition 71, the Wisconsin Journal Times speculates that Wisconsin may fall behind. Now, this would be a reasonable fear in most US states. But Wisconsin? As Alta Charo acknowledges, "UW-Madison has strong adult and embryonic stem cell programs for now because all the federally allowed embryonic cell lines are at the university..." Finally, someone comes close to admitting that Wisconsin benefits enormously from the policy presided over by its former governor, HHS head Tommy Thompson. It is arguably a huge advantage, giving enormous intellectual property protection to the corporation started by Wisconsin's alumni association to hold (and collect fees for licensing) patents on the discoveries of James Thompson and colleagues at Wisconsin, and to collect fees for the use of Wisconsin's "Bush-approved" cell lines. Those patents, by the way, cover a huge range of activities in embryo engineering and science - virtually ensuring Wisconsin a place at the table in any embryonic stem cell-based IP dispute. So it is a surprise that Charo notes that Wisconsin "should be, by far, the single state everybody in the world looks to for the first, best discoveries on both embryonic and adult stem cells. And we're not."

Update: Salk & Stem Cells

We previously noted the Salk hES ethics symposium. They've put up video, including "teachable" talks from Wolpe and Zoloth; those are available here.