by Christine Vestal, Stateline.org Staff Writer

University of Michigan stem cell scientist Sean Morrison recently got a telephone call from a woman offering to donate her leftover embryos from a fertilization procedure for his studies on Parkinson’s disease. What she didn’t know was that Michigan law prohibits research on human embryos. Morrison suggested that the woman contact a lab in another state.

Next door in Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) is promoting embryonic stem cell research in an effort to lure scientists and investors, in some cases from neighboring states. In 2005, Blagojevich sent a letter urging Missouri’s top scientists to move to Illinois rather than work under a cloud created by Missouri legislators’ ultimately unsuccessful efforts to ban research on human embryos.

“The lack of federal leadership leaves a vacuum that states are trying to fill on a very piecemeal basis,” said Michigan state Rep. Andy Meisner (D). He is trying for the third year in a row to amend 1978 and 1998 Michigan statutes so that the nascent research can go forward in the job-hungry state’s acclaimed medical research institutions.

Some religious leaders and social conservatives see things differently. Instead of seeking cures for chronic and debilitating diseases by pursuing research that destroys human embryos, they maintain scientists should conduct equally promising research such as non-controversial adult stem-cell studies.

President Bush’s decision Wednesday (June 20) to again veto legislation that would allow federal funding of embryonic stem cell research puts the issue squarely in states’ hands.

In response to Bush’s 2001 decision to curtail federal funding of stem cell research and his first veto in July 2006 of a bill that would permit federal funding of the studies, states have taken widely diverging positions on the issue.

Seven states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin — are providing seed money for the fledgling science, and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) in May called on lawmakers in his state to follow suit. Six other states — Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, North Dakota and South Dakota — ban the research. Three states — Iowa, Massachusetts and Missouri — have affirmed its legality but do not offer funding. In Florida and Texas, lawmakers are deadlocked on the issue. Most states have steered clear of it altogether.

Recent national polls indicate a majority of the American public favors federal support of embryonic stem cell research and in last year’s elections both Democratic and Republican political candidates consistently beat back their anti-stem cell competitors.

Read the full report, including a detailed rundown of where states stand on the issue, at stateline.org.