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Alaska

Alaska

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Alaska

Stem cell research has drawn little attention in Alaska politics or in research within the state. Alaskans hold varying views on the topic, but the ethics of using fetal stem cells has rarely been a hotly contested issue. Since 2003, the governorship and the state legislature have been controlled by Republicans, but some Alaska Republicans appear to be more moderate on social issues, including stem cell research, than Sarah Palin’s much publicized views suggest. The record of Alaska’s congressional delegation reflects a more moderate position. The lack of stem cell research in Alaska is more complicated than political opposition.

Alaska has no stem cell research institute and no stem cell research laws. The state also lacks a full medical, dental, or veterinary college. Research in the state has focused on the physical environment and Alaska’s abundant natural resources rather than on biomedical studies. Beginning late in the 20th century, the state made a concerted effort to address the lag in biomedical research, and Alaska went from the state receiving the least amount of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in 2000 to receiving more than $51 million in 2011. However, funds have been distributed over a range of biomedical research projects, and, as of 2014, stem cell research has not been a priority.

Moderation and Independence

On paper at least, Alaska appears to be a staunchly Republican state. Alaska has not voted for a Democratic president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, and until 2008 when Democrat Mark Begich became Alaska’s junior senator, the state had not sent a Democrat to Congress in almost three decades. Republicans have claimed the Governor’s Mansion since Frank Murkowski was elected in 2002. Sarah Palin, who succeeded Murkowski in 2006, went on record with her opposition to embryonic stem cell research when she was John McCain’s running mate in the Republican presidential election in 2008, despite McCain’s declared support for the research.

Sean Parnell became Alaska’s 10th governor when Palin resigned in July 2009 and he was elected to a full term in 2010. Parnell is a social conservative in the mode of his predecessor; he opposes abortions even in cases of rape and incest, and he is against embryonic stem cell research. Marc Hellenthal, an Alaska-based pollster frequently employed by Republicans, describes stem cell research as not highly relevant in Alaskan campaigns, but he predicted that candidates will become more vocal on the issue since Parnell used a television ad to attack Don Young, his opponent in the 2008 contest for Alaska’s at-large congressional representative seat, for Young’s support of embryonic stem cell research.

Young, the U.S. Representative for Alaska since 1973, is the senior Republican member of the House of Representatives. He has consistently voted with his party on abortion issues but generally has broken with the party position on stem cell votes. Others among Alaska’s congressional delegation have taken similar stances. Ted Stevens, senator from Alaska for more than 40 years, voted with some inconsistency on abortion issues, but he supported embryonic stem cell research, serving as one of the 41 cosponsors of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007. His own experience as a survivor of prostate cancer may have contributed to this support. Mark Begich, who defeated Stevens in 2008 to become the first Democrat to represent Alaska in Congress since 1980, is a pro-choice advocate who votes with the Democratic leadership most of the time.

In 2014, Begich and Republican Senator David Thune of South Dakota cosponsored a bill that required funding for embryonic stem cell research in the NIH budget be decreased by a constant amount each year for the next five years, after which time the bill will be reevaluated. The funds taken from embryonic stem cell research in the NIH will then be allocated to private adult stem cell research institutions in the form of grants from the federal government. Viewed as a compromise in that it pleased Democrats by allotting federal funds to stem cell research and pleased Republicans by shifting funds from embryonic stem cell research to adult stem cell research, the bill passed the Senate Committee of Science, Technology, and Transport by a vote of 20 to 1.

Lisa Murkowski, Alaska’s senior senator, was appointed by her father, Frank Murkowski, to fill the seat he vacated when he was elected governor of Alaska. Elected to a full term in 2004, she gained national attention in 2010 when she lost the Republican primary to Tea Party candidate Joe Miller, who was endorsed by Sarah Palin. Murkowski held on to her seat by waging a battle as a write-in candidate in the general election. A member of Republicans for Choice, Murkowski has voted with her party only 61 percent of the time since her 2010 reelection. She has consistently voted for the enhancement of stem cell research and has stated her support for non–federally funded embryonic stem cell research.

Focusing on Biomedical Research

One month after retiring as a U.S. Army Major General in July 1998, Mark Hamilton was appointed the 12th president of the University of Alaska. Hamilton realized the need to improve biomedical research within the state. The University of Alaska hired new tenure-track faculty in biomedicine and related areas at the Anchorage and Fairbanks campuses, and improved undergraduate, graduate, and pre-professional programs in health and biomedicine. The new impetus coincided with the federal government’s efforts to address disparities in National Institutes of Health funding through the creation of programs such as the Institutional Development Awards (IDeA), which was designed to broaden the geographic distribution of NIH funding for biomedical and behavioral research, and the IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), which provided grants to encourage collaborative research with undergraduate institutions, community colleges, and tribal colleges and universities in order to increase the biomedical research capacity within states. In 2004, Alaska received a $17.5 million award for the Alaska INBRE program, the largest NIH award received by the university in its nearly 100 years. Another $1.75 million grant continued funding for the Center for Alaska Native Health Research. The total NIH commitment to fund biomedical research at the University of Alaska was then more than $45 million.

By 2013, the university reached more than $90 million in federal grants. That impressive achievement is for all biomedical research. The percentage, if any, that funded stem cell research, adult or embryonic, is unavailable. However, in May 2014, at the Alaska Republican Party biannual convention, moderates, in an effort to avoid a coup such as that waged by Tea Party activists in 2012, adopted rules that require a person to be a registered Republican for at least four years before seeking a top party leadership position. They also require all candidates for the party’s statewide offices to be approved by a special committee. Then they changed the party platform. One of the changes was the elimination of the opposition to embryonic stem cell research.

Wylene Rholetter

Auburn University

See Also: Congress: Votes and Amendments; Fetal Stem Cells; University of British Columbia.

Further Readings

“Alaska Institutional Development Award Biomedical Excellence: Alaska INBRE.” Alaska INBRE. http://www.alaska.edu/inbre/about-alaska-inbre (Accessed May 2014).

Gutierrez, Alexandra. “Alaska GOP Aims to Block Party Coups.” Alaska Public Media (May 4, 2014). http://www.alaskapublic.org/2014/05/04/alaska-gop-aims-to-block-party-coups (Accessed May 2014).

Solo, Pam and Gail Pressberg. The Promise and Politics of Stem Cell Research. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007.