{"id":7498,"date":"2015-08-11T09:22:09","date_gmt":"2015-08-11T14:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/profs.wisc.edu\/?p=7498"},"modified":"2015-08-11T09:22:09","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T14:22:09","slug":"profs-opposes-bill-that-limits-scientific-research-on-campus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/profs.wisc.edu\/?p=7498","title":{"rendered":"PROFS Opposes Bill That Limits Scientific Research on Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"stem_cell_cultures2_01\"<\/a>PROFS has officially registered<\/a> against Assembly Bill 305<\/a>.\u00a0The bill, introduced by Representative Andr\u00e9 Jacque (R-De Pere), would make it illegal to provide or use for experimentation fetal body parts. A public hearing<\/a> on the bill will be held at 10 am today, Tuesday, August 11, in Room 225 Northwest, State Capitol.<\/p>\n

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The proposal is the same as\u00a0one opposed by PROFS in 2011<\/a>. If passed, AB 305\u00a0would criminalize the use of scientific material previously derived from fetal tissue, which includes stem cell lines that have been in use for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

“PROFS has consistently opposed legislation that limits potentially life-saving research on campus,” said Judith Burstyn, PROFS president.\u00a0“UW-Madison is an international leader in stem cell research, and this legislation could bring that research to a devastating halt.”<\/p>\n

Robert Golden, dean of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and John Raymond, president and CEO of the Medical College of Wisconsin, wrote<\/a> in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/em> the legislation has far-reaching consequences:<\/p>\n

“This proposed law only will ensure that promising lines of research will be shut down in Wisconsin. It will cut off work in our state on diseases that cripple and kill children and adults . . . \u00a0Some of our best researchers and private companies may be forced to leave Wisconsin in order to continue their work without criminal penalties, and this will have an absolutely chilling effect on the creation of new biotech companies in our state.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Federal law allows for the use of fetal tissue research, and all research on this campus meets federal guidelines. UW officials believe as many as 100 researchers could be affected by the proposal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cures for Tomorrow, an non-partisan advocacy group, released a <\/span>video<\/a>\u00a0(below)\u00a0in 2013 in opposition to the legislation, noting that the \u201clegislation would criminalize the current development of cures and treatments for the following conditions and diseases: spontaneous pregnancy loss and recurrent miscarriages; Down\u2019s syndrome; infertility; maternal diseases of pregnancy, including preeclampsia, and other such conditions which limit human fertility and reproductive success, and prevent couples from having healthy babies; cancer treatments for diseases like childhood leukemia; improved transplant outcomes; new and more effective vaccines for flu, tuberculosis or typhoid fever or against multi drug resistance bacteria (so called \u201cflesh eating\u201d bacteria); and heart attacks and sudden cardiac death.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n