Kansans for Life (KFL) opposes Governor Laura Kelly’s politically driven line-item veto of a $500,000 budget provision designated for a clinical trial to help patients with severe COVID-19 through the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center (MSCTC) at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Please contact your elected officials. Urge them to override the Governor’s line-item veto of funding for research into life-saving cures using adult stem cells. This research could help people with severe COVID disease and does NOT use embryos in the name of “science.”
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“Governor Kelly went out of her way to line-item veto this one small funding provision in the budget,” said KFL Director of Government Relations Jeanne Gawdun. “As a state senator, she fought hard against the creation of the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center and its mission of finding groundbreaking cures through ethical research. Kelly was on the wrong side of this life-saving science then and still is today.”
KFL and the pro-life movement as a whole have long supported adult stem cell medical research and opposed the use of destructive embryonic stem cell research methods. KFL was also a chief proponent of the creation of the MSCTC at KU Medical Center for instances such as this.
The MSCTC was established in 2013 with strong bipartisan support from the state legislature. Its mission is to advance understanding and use of adult stem cells, expand cures and new methods of disease management, deliver therapies to Kansas City and Midwest region hospitals, and train other physicians and researchers in developing therapeutic options.
Researchers at the MSCTC have been working with adult stem cells derived from umbilical cords and are ready to test a therapy in a small clinical trial for patients who have the most severe cases of COVID-19. The funding vetoed by the governor would have enabled at least 10 patients to participate in the trial, which could offer a critical advancement opportunity in the race to address complications for those with severe COVID-19 responses. If successful, this small investment could also promote Kansas medical researchers to a lead position in this emerging field.
In addition, the therapy developed at the MSCTC to treat COVID-19 patients could also possibly be used to help patients with other diseases. Currently, over 70 diseases and conditions have been successfully treated with adult stem cells, demonstrating their considerable promise for wide-ranging types of disease management and cures.
According to a 2020 report published by the medical journal Stem Cell Investigation, “Many authors consider adult stem cells the gold standard in stem cell-based therapies,” adding that, “in the near future, stem cell-based therapies shall significantly impact human health.” The article, listed in the National Institutes of Health, US National Library of Medicine, states that adult stem cells are not plagued by controversy related to their origin, compared to embryonic stem cell research, which involves the destruction of early human life in the embryonic stage.
This clear ethical path, combined with adult stem cells’ demonstrated success as a therapeutic option, shows it to be a superior research path.
KFL urges the legislature to show its support for the life-saving work of the MSCTC by voting to override the governor’s veto.