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Arizona’s scientists and citizens are missing out on a potential lucrative source of research funds and medical benefits because of the state’s strict limits on embryonic stem-cell research, a top biotechnology official said.
James Greenwood, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Biotechnology Industry Organization, said that Arizona and other states that limit such research methods may not realize the benefits from President Barack Obama’s move earlier this month to reverse a ban on federal funding of the controversial research.
“That seems to be a no-brainer,” Greenwood said Friday of allowing research of stem cells that are harvested from embryos discarded by fertility clinics. “They are going to be destroyed one way or another.”
Arizona’s restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research come from two laws passed by the state Legislature. One prevents scientists from conducting research on cells collected from an aborted fetus. Another state law prohibits any public or government research institute from using federal, state or private money on “human cloning,” which is defined in a way that blocks the scientific process involved with embryonic stem-cell research, according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
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