The following highlights recent news of state actions on human embryonic stem cell research.

• Iowa: Gov. Chet Culver (D) on Wednesday signed into law a bill (SF 162) that lifts the state's five-year-old ban on a type of embryonic stem cell research called somatic nuclear transfer, the Des Moines Register reports (Des Moines Register, 3/1). Somatic cell nuclear transfer is conducted by inserting the genetic material from a patient's cell -- usually from a skin cell -- into an unfertilized egg from another person. The patient's genetic material combines with the egg and causes it to develop into an embryo that is a genetic match to the skin-cell patient. The ban was signed into law by former Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) in 2002. Vilsack last year called for a repeal of the ban, saying science had evolved since he had signed the measure. Culver said the ban has put Iowa at a disadvantage with other states where universities were pursuing embryonic stem cell research (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/29). Culver in a prepared statement said he had promised that he would try to repeal the ban, adding, "Now, let us get down to work and give researchers in our state the tools and resources necessary to give all Iowans a brighter, unlimited and healthier future" (Associated Press, 2/28). Culver has recommended that the Legislature establish a $12.5 million Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Iowa, the Register reports (Des Moines Register, 3/1).
  
  
• Illinois: The House on Thursday voted 67-46 to approve a bill (HB 138) that would allow and support several kinds of stem cell research, including embryonic stem cell research, but would prohibit human cloning, the Chicago Sun-Times reports (Woodward, Chicago Sun-Times, 3/2). The bill, sponsored by House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R), would require the Department of Public Health to further develop and administer the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute, which was established in July 2005 by an executive order issued by Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and has since distributed $15 million for stem cell research, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The bill also would establish an oversight committee of seven members appointed by Blagojevich to oversee the institute's grant decisions (Potter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/2). The measure allows cloning to create cells for research purposes and includes ethics provisions that would aim to prohibit researchers with a financial conflict-of-interest from making decisions at the institute (Wills, AP/Chicago Tribune, 3/1). According to the Post-Dispatch, funding for IRMI will be made later in the session during budget negotiations. Cross said he "would be ecstatic" if lawmakers allocated $25 million to fund the research. According to the Post-Dispatch, an identical bill (SB 4) passed the Senate last month, and one of the measures could be sent to Blagojevich as soon as next week (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/2).
  
  
• Minnesota: The House Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee last week amended a measure (HF 34) that would authorize state funding for all types of stem cell research to include a provision that would make it a felony to assist in human cloning, the AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. The committee on Tuesday voted 12-7 to approve the amended measure, which defines human cloning as "replication of a human individual by cultivating a cell with genetic material through the egg, embryo, fetal and newborn stages into a new human individual" (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 2/27). The measure allows cloning for somatic cell nuclear transfer (Olson, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 2/28). According to bill sponsor Rep. Phyllis Kahn (DFL), the bill would form a review panel to assess medical and ethical implications of research and would require patients undergoing fertility treatments to confirm consent before their unused embryos would be used for research. A similar measure (SF 100), sponsored by Sen. Dick Cohen (DFL), would allocate some state funds for embryonic stem cell research. Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) last month during a speech to the Minnesota Family Council said he supports research using umbilical cord blood, adult stem cells or cells extracted from embryos without damaging them, adding, "I do not support wide-open embryonic stem cell research" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 2/8). The House bill now heads to another committee (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 2/27).