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LINCOLN — University of Nebraska scientists don't need formal approval from the Board of Regents to expand their work with human embryonic stem cells, NU President J.B. Milliken said Friday.
Citing an Oct. 2 legal opinion from the university's general counsel, Milliken said existing state and federal laws, as well as university policy, allow scientists to use new lines of embryonic stem cells, once they are approved by the National Institutes of Health.
After more than an hour of public comment on the topic during a Board of Regents meeting, Milliken recommended that the board let current policy stand.
“Embryonic stem cell research holds enormous promise, and if the University of Nebraska is to be a leading research university, it should be appropriately engaged in this research,” he said.
“To do otherwise would unnecessarily limit the opportunities for discoveries to save and improve lives. It would also risk great harm to the reputation of the university and damage our ability to recruit and retain outstanding research and clinical faculty.”
Milliken said Friday that the regents had had the opportunity for review during the past several months and that he was now prepared to open the door to expanded research. He said the board has three options: affirm the existing policy, revise it or do nothing.
The Milliken recommendation upset anti-abortion advocates.
Since the Obama administration announced a change in the federal guidelines last spring, abortion opponents have been urging regents to “draw a line in the sand” to stop NU scientists from embarking on expanded research involving cells derived from human embryos that would otherwise be discarded.
“This is unbelievable what was stated here today,” said Chip Maxwell, executive director of the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research. “It's not for the president or any administrator to set this policy.”
Regents Chairman Kent Schroeder said the board probably will take up the issue at its November meeting.
Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, said she and other abortion opponents will continue to urge the regents to reject expanded embryonic stem cell research.
“I will be here,” she said of the November meeting.
The regents agreed to take public comment on the research after anti-abortion groups announced that they planned to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting.
The 12 people testifying in favor of the research included Omaha philanthropist Richard Holland, who is founder and chairman of the pro-research group Nebraskans for Lifesaving Cures; Lynne Boyer, daughter of the late Charles Durham, whose family has donated tens of millions of dollars to build research towers on the NU Medical Center campus; and Rik Bonness, a former Husker All-American football player whose two sons have Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes.
Bonness' son Eric, a student at UNMC, jointly testified with his father, his voice breaking as he told how he and his brother Beau have coped with diabetes.
Opponents says the research takes society in the wrong direction. Maxwell said it is only steps removed from manufacturing human life purely to sacrifice it for research.
“Human embryos deserve respect as a form of human life,” said Dr. Sheryl Pitner, a physician who serves as president of the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research.
Pitner said it's irrelevant whether an embryo is implanted in a woman's body or resides in a petri dish — “we are the ones that put those embryos in that dish.”
Others said the research is ethical, saying it uses excess embryos from in vitro fertilization procedures that were created with the knowledge that they were likely to be discarded.
The new federal regulations require documentation that embryos used to develop lines of cells for research were freely donated and would otherwise have been destroyed.
Monnie Lindsay, diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1993 at age 38, said the lives of those fighting debilitating diseases also are worthy of consideration.
In her heart, she said, she's still the dynamic woman she once was, not the person that Parkinson's forces to speak in a monotone with little facial expression.
“I've come to the conclusion that embryonic stem cell research fundamentally respects the sanctity of human life,” Lindsay said.
Nebraska law does not allow state resources or facilities to be used to create or destroy embryos for research purposes. However, scientists typically do not generate embryonic stem cells themselves, instead performing their research on “lines” of stem cells regenerated from embryos by outside laboratories.
President George W. Bush in 2001 authorized research using 21 pre-existing lines of cells. Researchers have said most of those cell lines were aging and of declining usefulness.
The new regulations approved by President Barack Obama could increase the number of cell lines available for research. No new lines have yet been approved.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9581, leslie.reed@owh.com
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