New Jersey to allow embryonic stem cell research

Critics of the state legislation say the accompanying ban on human cloning could be ineffective.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Jan. 26, 2004.

The New Jersey Assembly has narrowly approved a bill banning human reproductive cloning but allowing "therapeutic cloning" for the purpose of obtaining embryonic stem cells for research and, eventually, medical treatments.

A sponsor of the bill, Assemblyman Neil Cohen said passing the bill was "the most important thing I will do in my lifetime, period."

He predicted that stem cell research would produce cures for many diseases and lead to on-site treatments for battlefield injuries and for people injured in civil disasters. One day, he said, stem cell tissue-replacement therapy will be so cheap that veterinarians will use it to treat pets.

"If this bill had been defeated, it would have set back medical research 50 years," Cohen said.

The state Senate unanimously approved the bill in December 2002, but anti-cloning activists were successful in stalling it in the lower house last February. Supporters mustered the 41 votes needed for passage Dec. 15, 2003.

Gov. James E. McGreevey signed the bill into law at the Kessler Rehabilitation Institute in West Orange, N.J., in a ceremony attended by paralyzed actor and stem cell research advocate Christopher Reeve.

The Medical Society of New Jersey supported the bill but didn't actively push for it. MSNJ President Mark Olesnicky, MD, said members lobbied independently and "did the footwork" with the society's blessing.

He said passing the bill was important for the state's financial and physical health. "The future of medicine depends very much and very highly on stem cell research," the Florham Park-based internist said.