New Jersey passes stem cell law

When New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey signed a stem cell bill this week, the state became only the second in the United States—after California—to pass legislation specifically outlawing reproductive cloning and promoting human embryonic stem cell research. Scientists around the state hailed the law as a big step forward for their work. “I am very excited about the pro-stem-cell-research bill signed by Governor McGreevey,” said Paola Leone, director of the Cell and Gene Therapy Center at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Camden, NJ. The bill signals “the beginning of a new era of medical research in New Jersey,” she said. “I think everybody who works on human embryonic stem cells would welcome this type of legislation,” said Ihor Lemischka, a professor of molecular biology at Princeton University, told The Scientist. “We don't have any current plans to move into human embryonic stem cell arena, but if we did, which is certainly possible, I welcome the more permissive climate this legislation provides,” said Lemischka, who now works mostly with murine embryonic stem cells and hematopoietic stem cells.The New Jersey bill permits research involving “human embryonic stem cells, human embryonic germ cells, and human adult stem cells from any source, including somatic cell nuclear transplantation.” It makes cloning for the purposes of creating a human being a first-degree crime punishable by up to 20 years in jail and requires that infertility patients be informed that they can donate unused embryos for research purposes. Other states, including Massachusetts, are considering similar legislation. “I am very positive and think this will have an encouraging, positive effect on the entire field of stem cell research in New Jersey, but also nationally,” said Ira Black, director of the Stem Cell Research Center at the UMDNJ–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The New Jersey and California laws “will serve as models for the manner in which to further research that will help in a wide variety of diseases, and in that sense the impact I'm sure will extend well beyond any single state.”While the bill was welcomed by researchers, most agreed that it may not affect the day-to-day research being conducted by federally funded scientists, who must still select embryonic stem cell lines from a White House–approved list. The New Jersey bill does not provide additional funds for stem cell research.The bill “does some very important things, the first in my view is symbolic—it says New Jersey is hospitable to intellectually honest scientific research, said David Beck, president of the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden. However, “it does not change anything with regard to federally funded organizations like, for example, the Coriell Institute or any other organization that is academic, like Rutgers or UMDNJ, having access to embryonic stem cells—those may be only the ones that are approved by or on the list the president issued,” he said.Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies may benefit the most from the law, which could also spur more collaboration between academia and industry. “This is encouraging and supportive of expanded academic and industrial collaboration,” Black told The Scientist. “This will also encourage biotechnology startup companies to become involved, and needless to say, these companies are acutely dependent on capitalization, which is discouraged by constraints placed on advancing the research.”The new law could also make it easier to obtain donated embryos for research. “Organizations that are not federally funded, perhaps biotechnology or pharmaceutical or other companies, may well establish their own embryonic stem cells lines,” said Beck. “In that regard, the bill makes explicitly clear that in vitro fertilization clinics and other organizations that might have access to embryos or to fertilized eggs—of course, with the full consent and permission of the owners or parents—can donate those for research and do so quite legally, which is one very important outcome I think.”The researchers welcomed specific legislation outlawing reproductive cloning. “I clearly, clearly agree with condemning any type of reproductive cloning,” said Lemischka. “We are all interested, I presume, in the emergence of regenerative medicine that will help us replace dead and dying cells, whether it's due to stroke, Alzheimer's, myocardial infarction, or diabetes, and that we take prudent steps to get that done. And in my view, this legislation will be of inestimable help in achieving that end, and it most certainly does not in any way foster reproductive cloning,” said Black.The new law may help New Jersey and the United States in general retain talented stem cell researchers, said Black. “The supportive atmosphere this legislation creates can be expected to attract outstanding stem cell researchers from other areas; consequently, there might be intra–United States brain drain from one state to another, but not necessarily out of the country,” he said. “Passing this legislation and the governor signing it took a great deal of courage because there was enormous opposition,” Beck told The Scientist. “There was really relatively little to gain politically for doing it, but perhaps a lot to lose politically, so it took a lot of courage to do this. I really congratulate the legislature; it was a very important signal. It was a legislature that could see the big picture.”

New Jersey passes stem cell law

Scientists praise act that promotes stem cell research, criminalizes reproductive cloning

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of