Business Leaders Ask Governor to Veto Stem Cell Bill

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Business Leaders Ask Governor to Veto Stem Cell Bill
Apr 21, 2009 4:21 PM PDT
Charles Bassett
NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A controversial bill on embryonic stem cell research is sitting on the governor's desk. The bill makes it illegal to do research in the state using embryonic stem cells. But some in the business and medical community say the bill goes too far and could hurt the state financially.

The author of the bill said he's out to protect human life, but opponents of the bill say it's too restrictive and aims to hurt medical research.

The stem cell bill sitting on the governor's desk would ban the use of embryonic stem cells in Oklahoma for non-therapeutic research.

"The bill makes it a crime for a person who lives in Oklahoma to participate in embryonic stem cell research," Rep. Mike Reynolds.

Representative Reynolds authored the bill and he believes life begins at conception and the embryos should be treated has humans.

"We'll give them the same protections that we would afford any other living being," Rep. Reynolds said.

But business leaders said Reynolds has it wrong. Doing research using embryonic stem cells will actually save lives.

"This is about using embryos that are currently frozen, in banks that are going to be destroyed and thrown away. It's not about harvesting embryos. It's not about creating embryos for research," said Roy Williams with the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.

President Obama reversed his predecessor's funding ban on stem cell research. Williams said that's research money that could now be spent in Oklahoma. He has asked the governor to veto the bill, and so has the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce.

"Why foreclose this possibility for people who are suffering from multiple sclerosis, from diabetes, from Parkinson's disease, from many other serious disorders?" said Dr. Steven Prescott, the President of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

Dr. Prescott said to criminalize research on stem cells is extreme.

"It's bad for Oklahoma as a place that is trying to invent new cures for diseases and that is sympathetic and supportive for people who suffer from those diseases. I think it sends a bad message," Dr. Prescott said.

The governor has until midnight Wednesday to take action on the bill.

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