Bioscience bill faces challenge

Fetal research concerns slow passage of massive research initiative

? The biggest economic development bill of the legislative session has been slowed by the debate about using fetuses for research.

Higher education officials said Monday there was a restriction in the Kansas Bioscience Initiative on the use of fetal tissue that could drastically reduce the impact of the bill.

“We have concerns as it is currently crafted,” said Reggie Robinson, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Board of Regents.

The bioscience initiative, until now, has sailed through the Legislature with the blessings of state leaders and promises of tens of thousands of jobs.

As envisioned by its authors, the measure would pump approximately $500 million over 10 years in tax growth from bioscience firms back into the industry, generating laboratories, research companies and putting Kansas University in the middle of an explosion in medical research along with the well-funded Stowers Institute in Kansas City, Mo.

The proposal also would set up a program of constructing and maintaining bioscience facilities and recruit 25 eminent and 35 rising-star scholars to be associated with the state universities.

The measure was approved by the House last month, 119-6, and was referred to the Senate Commerce Committee, which will have hearings on the bill Friday, Monday and March 16.

But low-profile discussions have been going on between those opposed to fetal-tissue research and those who fear putting in restrictions will hurt the state’s attempts to lure top researchers.

Several House members complained early on that the legislation didn’t have safeguards against using fetal tissue.

“We don’t want to be growing babies for profit or body parts,” Rep. Steve Brunk, a Wichita Republican, said as the bill was making its way through the House.

The more restrictive language was put in the bill, which then drew the opposition of higher education officials.

“We thought it was important to move the bill through the House. We saw no reason to try to throw a monkey wrench in things as it moved through the House,” Robinson said.

The issue of using fetal tissue for scientific study has been explosive in state legislatures across the country as breakthroughs are made in cloning and embryo research.

Under the bill, fetal tissue from induced abortions could not be used for research conducted under the planned bioscience authority, officials said.

Sen. Nick Jordan, R-Shawnee, one of the architects of the bioscience initiative, said the opposing sides of this issue continued to meet to determine what the interpretation of the language of the bill meant and whether it is acceptable to everyone.

“All sides have been open to discussion,” Jordan said.

Robinson said higher education officials wanted to ensure that the bill “is not overly restrictive from a research perspective.”

One of the major thrusts of the legislation is to attract scholars at the top of their fields.

“If that is the cornerstone, it is absolutely essential that there be no limits to undermine that objective,” he said.

Higher education officials cannot “sign off” on the bill until more work is done on the provisions dealing with fetal tissue research, he said.

Jordan said he didn’t think the current conflict about the issue would kill the bill.

“People want the bill to pass,” he said.