Stem cells: The policy

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By MELISSA LEE / Lincoln Journal Star

These days, it seems the only place you won’t hear folks debating stem cell research is Varner Hall.

Everybody else is doing it. State legislators and academics, Congress and congregations.

But in its East Campus home in the Varner basement, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents remains steadfastly - perhaps strangely - silent on The Big Topic.

Regents haven’t so much as touched stem cell research since 2001, when they approved guidelines set forth by an ethics committee put together by then-NU President L. Dennis Smith.

And they don’t plan to any time soon, despite the growing political relevance of the topic.

“I’m comfortable with our current policy,” Regent Jim McClurg of Lincoln said.

“Our policy is right for now,” said Regent Chuck Hassebrook of Lyons.

“I don’t think regents need to revisit the policy,” said Regents Chairman Charles Wilson of Lincoln.

What, then, is that policy everyone’s apparently so comfortable with?

The rules are very clear:

Adult stem cell research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center is fine. Embryonic stem cell research is fine, but only in rare cases approved by multiple administrative layers.

Cloning - either type - is not fine.

Finally, UNMC researchers always must abide by federal guidelines, regardless of the source of research funds.

For now, that means UNMC can only conduct embryonic stem cell research on already-existing stem cell lines, because President George W. Bush’s federal policy says no taxpayer dollars will finance the research on new lines. Bush approved 78 cell lines nationwide, two of which are used at UNMC.

It also means that, unlike some other universities, UNMC is not allowed to skirt Bush’s rules by putting private funds toward the controversial research.

Those guidelines were proposed by a 21-member ethics committee that included doctors, scholars, pastors and regular Nebraskans. When the proposal was put before the Board of Regents, just one, Randy Ferlic of Omaha, voted no.

“I was the only regent with a soul,” joked Ferlic, a retired heart surgeon and ardent opponent of embryonic stem cell research.

Now, though, he says he’s OK with the policy, content to wait for someone else to broach what he says is an over-hyped subject before further voicing his opposition.

All seven other regents express similar complacency, no matter their position.

Regents, then, are all but certain to stay mum on the topic at least through Bush’s tenure, because the president has vowed to veto any congressional legislation loosening his restrictions. A newly Democratic Congress is trying to do so but doesn’t have the votes to override Bush.

Depending on whom voters next send to the White House, things could change as soon as 2009.

Should the next president expand embryonic stem cell research, a decision that would filter down to UNMC labs, regents could find themselves deeply divided over the issue.

Half of the current board - Wilson, Hassebrook, Kent Schroeder of Kearney and Bob Whitehouse of Papillion - would support expanding the research. Most of the other half - Ferlic, McClurg and Bob Phares of North Platte - would not.

Howard Hawks of Omaha says UNMC shouldn’t conduct any research related to abortion but that he might be open to using embryonic stem cells left over from fertility treatments.

Still, opponents aren’t prepared to say whether they’d fight looser guidelines.

So, a pending showdown? Maybe. Maybe not.

“It’s all speculation,” Phares said. “To say that we won’t plant our feet and never revisit the issue is silly. We may or may not revisit the issue.”

Of course, the board’s composition isn’t guaranteed to be the same come 2009 because Wilson and Hawks are up for re-election next year. Pro-life candidates have been particularly successful in recent years in securing spots on Nebraska’s decision-making bodies, so embryonic stem cell research opponents may well gain an edge before Bush’s successor takes office.

Then there’s the Legislature, which could enact research-related laws that would surpass regents’ rule.

An all-encompassing cloning ban, for example, was introduced this year, though it never moved out of the Judiciary Committee for debate by the full Legislature. The bill was strongly opposed by several leading UNMC researchers, even though their internal guidelines already prohibit cloning.

The opposition comes because state law is more difficult to overturn than regent guidelines.

Legislators haven’t yet taken up a ban on embryonic stem cell research, but should they ever pass one, regents’ hands would be tied.

That, some say, could cost UNMC millions in grant dollars, reputation points and the loss of prominent researchers. Opponents aren’t convinced UNMC’s future rests on research that has yet to produce tangible successes.

But when the time comes, Whitehouse says, he’s prepared to fight for expansion.

“I hope we can be open to discussion,” he said. “We shouldn’t slam the door. There’s no quick fix to this.”

As he debated whether to run for regent last year, Whitehouse learned a longtime friend and neighbor had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

She told Whitehouse she could have benefitted from a type of stem cell therapy.

“Bob, do everything you can,” she said shortly before her death.

Whitehouse decided. He would run.

“We cannot turn our backs on research until we find an answer to the suffering people are going through.”

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.