Copyright 2004 Associated Press 
All Rights Reserved
April 22, 2004, Thursday, BC cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 506 words
BYLINE: By JENNIFER PETER, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: BOSTON

Senate President Robert Travaglini renewed his call for stem cell research legislation Thursday, arguing that Massachusetts will lose ground to other states if it does not establish protections for that portion of the biotech industry.

"If we have the opportunity to cure spinal cord injuries, juvenile diabetes, Lou Gehrig's disease, I think we have the capacity to put in place the necessary ethical and moral protections that will obviously govern this type of work," the Boston Democrat told a gathering of business leaders at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

The Senate tried to include a stem cell research provision in an economic stimulus package approved last year, but the House - and its socially conservative leadership - stripped it out of the final version.

State law is currently silent on stem cell research, neither authorizing it or outlawing it, although conservative organizations argue that the work - which can involve the use of human embryos - violates other state statutes.

By adopting a law specifically authorizing stem cell research, Travaglini said, the state could fend off efforts by California and New Jersey to "poach" companies from Massachusetts.

Stem cell research has shown promise to treat a host of diseases, from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to spinal cord injuries to Lou Gehrig's disease. Because it often involves the destruction of embryos, however, it has become a new frontier in the national debate over reproduction and the beginning of human life.

"This is an enormous thing when you talk about sacrificing human life for research that has not yet proven to be successful," said Marie Sturgis, executive director for Massachusetts Citizens for Life. "To go forward on such flimsy evidence is foolhardy."