A proposed ballot issue to ease restrictions on stem cell research will strike a chord with South Dakotans because nearly everyone has had a serious disease or knows someone who has, according to former state Treasurer David Volk, himself a cancer survivor.
"It a fight worth fighting," he said of the effort to place the measure on the 2010 general election ballot.
Volk, of Sioux Falls, heads a group called South Dakotans for Lifesaving Cures. He says the state's ban on research involving embryonic stem cells should be thrown out so more work can be done to help find cures and treatment for cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's and other diseases.
"I'm convinced stem cell research down the road can be the cure and a treatment of some of the greatest scourges that have plagued humankind," Volk said.
The group recently got suggestions from the Legislative Research Bureau on technical changes in the wording of the proposed law. Once the final version is filed with the secretary of state's office, the group will have until April 6 to get the 16,776 valid signatures required to put the measure to a statewide public vote in November 2010.
Volk said the measure will strengthen South Dakota's ban on human cloning but will repeal a 2000 state law that has banned research on stem cells from human embryos. The cells that would be used for research would come from leftover fertility clinic embryos that otherwise would be destroyed, he said.
"There's nothing that involves cloning in any of this. There's nothing that involves using cells from aborted fetuses," Volk said.
Rep. Roger Hunt, R-Brandon, a staunch abortion opponent, said he does not know what the final wording of the ballot measure will be, but he sees no reason to get rid of the ban on embryonic stem cell research.
"It seems to be intended to basically utilize any stem cell source, and of course that could very well include unborn children," Hunt said.
Hunt said there are plenty of other sources of stem cells without using those from human embryos. The 2010 Legislature might even try to deal with the issue before Volk's measure appears on the ballot, he said.
"There will be considerable opposition to the measure," Hunt said.
Volk was state treasurer from 1973-1990 and now is involved in business, works as a substitute teacher and is a writer. He said the stem cell measure fits with his stand against abortion.
"It's pro-life because it will save lives," he said.
Volk said he believes the current South Dakota restrictions could hamper Sanford Health Systems, which conducts a lot of medical research. But he noted that he has not talked to anyone from Sanford Health.
Cindy Morrison, vice president of public policy for Sanford Health Systems, said the organization currently does no research involving stem cells and will take no position on the ballot measure.
Morrison said it's impossible to know whether the ballot measure would have any impact on Sanford because no one knows where future medical discoveries will lead. "This is not something we can predict."
Sanford Health, based in Sioux Falls, has clinics and hospitals in South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota as well as a children's clinic in Oklahoma.
Sioux Falls banker T. Denny Sanford has given the Sanford hospital system $400 million, part of which is being used for research to seek a cure for juvenile diabetes. Sanford also has provided $20 million to establish a children's research center with locations in South Dakota and California.
In addition, the banker last year said he was giving $30 million to a stem cell research initiative in San Diego.
Embryonic stem cells can grow into any kind of tissue in the body. Researchers hope to use them to create better treatments or cures for ailments ranging from diabetes to Parkinson's to spinal cord injury.
Former President George Bush in 2001 limited federally funded research to a small number of stem cell lines that already existed then. President Barack Obama in March lifted those restrictions but left it up to the National Institutes of Health to decide what stem cell research was ethically appropriate.
The NIH has decided that research is appropriate if it uses cells culled from leftover fertility clinic embryos, ones that otherwise would be thrown away.
The South Dakota law passed in 2001 was sponsored by then-Rep. Jay Duenwald, R-Hoven, a longtime leader of South Dakota Right to Life. The law bans harmful experiments on human embryos.
Duenwald said embryos left after laboratory fertilization should not be subjected to research that could kill or injure them. "Remember, we're looking at a human life," he said.
Many states have passed their own laws on stem cell research. Missouri voters amended the state constitution in 2006 to guarantee that any stem cell research legal under federal law is also legal in that state. Michigan voters last year passed a law allowing people to donate embryos left over from fertility treatments for use in scientific research.
Volk said he believes the South Dakota proposal will pass if the debate focuses on facts, rather than on emotion or prejudice.
Volk, a Republican, said he was approached to be co-chair of the campaign by Steve Hildebrand, a Democratic campaign consultant he has known for many years. The other co-chair will be chosen soon, he said.
