The debate and controversy surrounding human embryonic stem cells, which some scientists believe may have many applications in medicine, has not been defused with last summer's decision by President Bush to only publicly fund research on cell lines that had already been established.
Shortly before the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which handles patenting and licensing for UW-Madison researchers, settled a lawsuit Jan. 9 with a California company regarding the rights to licensing stem cells, two Wisconsin legislators drafted a bill that would make any such research a felony.
During the Clinton administration, federally funding human embryonic stem-cell research was prohibited. Therefore, preliminary work in the area by UW-Madison Assistant Professor James Thomson was funded by Geron Corporation, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based company.
In exchange for funding, Geron originally had exclusive rights to six cell types developed from stem cells with options to acquire the exclusive rights to others for the purpose of developing therapeutic and diagnostic products. But the ambiguous wording in the original contract regarding which cell types it would have exclusive rights to and which it would not, led to the lawsuit filed last August. Under the new agreement, Geron will have exclusive commercial rights to only three of the cell types, including heart cells, neural cells and pancreatic islet cells, which produce insulin.
The company also no longer has the option to acquire exclusive rights to additional cell types.
Andrew Cohn, a spokesperson for WARF, said the foundation believed the research would move faster if multiple companies could have access to the cell types.
\[Geron] believed we had no right to license these stem cells for research products to other companies,"" he said.
But while this issue was being resolved, two state legislators were drafting a bill that would prohibit research on embryonic stem cells in Wisconsin. If the bill were to pass, research would only be allowed on adult stem cells.
The bill, which will be introduced by Rep. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, and Rep. Stephen Freese, R-Dodgeville, during the week of Jan. 21, has faced much opposition from WARF.
Lazich said she believed the bill would not hinder research at UW-Madison, thinking that research with adult stem cells could replace that of embryonic stem cells.
""I think it will only have a negative effect if someone chooses it to have negative effects. The focus should be on adult stem-cell research,"" she said.
Cohn disagreed, saying if the bill passed, the consequences would be severe.
""I think [this bill] is a total and complete disaster. It is an absolute shame that the Assembly would consider a bill that would limit research that could solve some of the world's most debilitating diseases,"" he said. ""If the bill passed, this incredible head start would be lost, all the researchers would leave and Wisconsin would be the laughingstock of the nation.""
UW-Madison became the pioneer in the human embryonic stem-cell field after Thomson became the first person to successfully isolate such cells in 1998.
Cohn said the belief that adult stem cells could replace embryonic stem cells was false.
""The only people who are making this argument ... are politicians'any scientist of credible standing will agree that you need embryonic stem cells,"" he said. ""There is a lot we can still learn from adult stem cells, but you need to do both.""
Lazich said that while she believed the bill would pass the state Assembly, ""I don't think it will pass the [state] Senate because the majority leader has said that he is opposed to it.\
