The newly formed Coalition for Cures Not Cloning is urging people not to sign a petition that would allow embryonic stem cell research in South Dakota, calling the petition misleading.

“Their effort is so deceptive,” said Chris Hupke, president of the South Dakota Family Policy Council Action, one of the members of the coalition.

The coalition announced its formation during a news conference in Rapid City on Thursday.

The petition, organized by the South Dakotans for Lifesaving Cures, is expected to begin circulating in the state next week. It comes eight months after President Barack Obama overturned a 2001 order by then-President George W. Bush that barred the National Institutes of Health from funding embryonic stem cell research beyond the existing stem cell lines. South Dakota passed its ban in 2000.  

David Volk of the South Dakotans for Lifesaving Cures said the initiative will ask voters to allow research on embryonic stem cells but only stem cells left over from in vitro-fertilization procedures, cells that would have been discarded otherwise. They will be used only if donated, and the initiative will not ask for any public funding, he said.

Volk said the petition also includes strong language to prevent cloning.

“There, we agree with them,” Volk said. “We are opposed to cloning as they are.”

But Hupke said that’s not true. He said the petition opens the door for the kind of research that includes cloning.

“To call that not cloning is sleight of hand,” he said.

Hupke said by removing the nucleus from an egg and replacing the chromosomes, cloning is taking place, whether or not the embryo is placed into a uterus.

Hupke said the coalition wants South Dakotans to know the whole truth, which includes the failure of embryonic stem cell research. In 25 years, Hupke said embryonic stem cell research has had no successes, but adult stem cell research has seen many.

“We just think it’s responsible to focus on the science that works,” he said. “Our opposition is based on the strength of the science behind stem cells.”

Volk argues that as recently as Nov. 10, researchers at the University of California-Irvine, found potential use for embryonic stem cells in helping “cancer patients recover cognitive function” lost during radiation treatment to the brain.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, he said.

“They (the coalition) will say that we have adult stem cell research and that’s all we need, but here is a huge difference: … Embryonic has greater potential, much more flexibility. It can evolve into over 200 cell types,” he said. “We need both.”

Hupke said the supposed successes of embryonic stem cell research have not been peer reviewed and can’t be compared to the proven successes of adult stem cells in developing cures for such disease as lupus and multiple sclerosis.

“A lot of people are misled by this type of snake-oil medicine,” he said of embryonic stem cell research. “But they are not peer reviewed. They are purely speculation.”

Contact Lynn Taylor Rick at lynn.taylorrick@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8414.