Tobacco trust fund to fund adult stem cell research
Author:  William W. Savage III 
Date:  05/18/2009

(OK) The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund Board of Directors voted Monday to commit more than $5 million to pursuing investments in adult stem cell research.

The unanimous vote likely puts HJR 1035 to rest for now, the bill's House author said after hearing about the board's decision.

HJR 1035, by Rep. John Enns, R-Waukomis, and Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, proposes a constitutional amendment modifying appropriation limitations from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund. It directs that 10 percent of the fund is to be expended by the Legislature on adult stem cell research. In the Senate, the section calling a November 2009 special election was removed. In the Senate, the bill also was amended to allow the Oklahoma umbilical cord blood bank to be funded from the 10 percent of the fund.

"Right now, I've got it on hold," Enns said of the resolution. "Just in case we need the vehicle later for more appropriations."

The last action on the resolution was last week, when it was signed out of the Senate General Conference Committee on Appropriations as "conferees disagree."

Board members heard presentations from two in-state stem cell researchers, discussed options and concerns and approved a motion to allocate $500,000 for a first year of investment planning and an additional $1 million per year for five years of investment.

Members made that vote after being re-assured by Chairwoman Casey Killblane that the fund's finances were steady and even a little better than anticipated.

"Even in this terrible economy, we've always hoped that we could count on level funding," she said. "What we would look at is still being able to do some additional things, but I don't think we are looking at cutting anything at all, even with doing this."

Members debated the benefits of funding stem cell research through the trust as well as the risks to directing money away from the fund's primary objective - smoking cessation.

"When you have billions and billions [of dollars] of research going on at a national and international level, [our contribution] would seem like it's a very small level of influence," said board member George Foster.

But, that did not ring true with either of Monday's stem-cell research presenters.

"Almost all of what we have done since coming to Oklahoma was done on the start-up package that was done to recruit me to Oklahoma, which was not a lot of money," said Dr. Courtney Houchen, chief of the G.I. and Digestive Diseases Section of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Department of Medicine. "But, I can tell you the return on that money was astronomical. We have published about five papers this year alone. We have gone a long way with a little bit of money."

Houchen's presentation centered on his research on cancer-treating opportunities that would identify the "stem cells" of cancer and allow them to be targeted in treatment.

Dr. Steven Prescott with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation presented his organization's work with stem cells focusing on a foundation for turning an individual's cells into any necessary cells in the body.

"There are so many diseases that are smoking related," he said, referring to even bladder and stomach cancers in addition to lung and cardiovascular diseases. "There are many, many disorders."

The motion approved by the board was initially broad in nature at the request of Foster, who specified "stem cell research" as opposed to "adult stem cell research."

But when a press release came out hours later, "adult stem cell research" was named for funding approval, and Sjonna Paulson, TSET communications director, said members had to go back at the end of the meeting to specify "adult stem cell research" because that was the term used on the board's agenda.

Reached by phone, Foster said the trust's lawyer said the vote needed to be reflected as specified on the agenda, and he also said it became clear that only "adult stem cell research" was taking place in Oklahoma at the moment.

Initially, Foster had said he did not want "to limit any proposal that would come before us."

"I don't want to get into the religious or theological argument," he said after the initial vote. "I didn't want to get into that, and I'm not going to let this group get into that."

After the vote was changed, however, Foster said he still believed the group "could look at [embryonic stem cell research]" in the future.

"I don't think any of us have any idea what kind of stem cell research could be available until we get these proposals in front of us," he said. "We'll be looking at it in the future, no matter what proposals come forward."

During the meeting, Prescott confirmed that no entity in Oklahoma is currently researching embryonic stem cells. He said he appreciated Foster's attempt to keep the trust's language open.

"Both approaches could offer similar things," Prescott said. "Since we don't know which one is most likely to work, why would you pick one over the other?"

He also addressed a question from a board member regarding a supposed lack of success in embryonic stem cell research.

"That is absolutely not true," Prescott said. "There are a lot of clinical examples. In animal models, adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells are very successful. That's a misrepresentation. Just because some people against stem cell therapies have said that does not make it true."

Enns, Jolley and other legislators have repeated that claim in committees and on the Senate floor throughout the 2009 session.

Prescott said he believes the moral issues raised by embryonic stem cells can be reconciled under strict guidelines, but in the meantime he said people should not be claiming they have no value.

"Those same people imposed many, many barriers by the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] and at the clinical levels," he told the board. "If I can't do the experiment, how can I show you the cure?"

Enns said Monday that embryonic stem cells had not been successful in human studies yet, but he confirmed they had shown results in animal studies.

Enns is a former microbiology teacher who was teaching about both adult and embryonic stem cells before a spinal injury sustained in a farming accident required him to use a wheelchair.

"I taught microbiology at Northern Oklahoma College," Enns said. "I knew this was an area that was very important to a lot of people that are disabled and who have different ailments.

"I don't think there's one person who this should not affect," he added.

Enns said he was glad the board approved funding the research, and he said he believes it fits directly with part of its mission to address smoking-related health problems in Oklahoma.

The representative is scheduled to hold a press conference Tuesday to discuss adult stem cell developments.

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