Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2007 > September > 02 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThe evolution of the Legislature’s fight over science
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Everyone had a good chortle last month when state lawmakers convened a stacked hearing to dismiss concerns about global warming.
The word in the state Capitol? The whole thing was rigged by beach developers backing a bill to prohibit any increase in sea level.
But giggles aside, science is at the heart of a growing tug-of-war in the Legislature. The shadow-boxing put on by the House energy committee — in drought-ridden August, no less — is only the smallest part.
At one end of the rope are social conservatives and many others sincerely disturbed by the moral implications of new technology.
At the other end is the Research & Development crowd, a relatively new body with growing influence in the Capitol, who see these explosive gains in knowledge as the foundation of Georgia’s next economy — and something not to be trifled with.
Last week, six men — five Republican and one Democrat — gathered in a fourth-floor room in the Capitol to convene the Senate Study Committee on Rights Relating to Reproductive and Genetic Technology.
(A male witness noted that committee members were of a single gender. “We all answer to women somewhere,” quipped chairman Eric Johnson of Savannah.)
One purpose of the committee is to examine gaps in the law created by the increasing use of frozen sperm, eggs and embryos — often, but not exclusively, by couples with fertility problems.
A legal expert testified that many military personnel in Georgia are banking their genetic material before they leave for the Middle East, to ensure that something of themselves will remain should the worst happen.
Which raises a significant question: Is a baby born two years — or five years — after one parent dies entitled to inherit the estate of the deceased?
“My hope is that we don’t get into the moral side,” said Johnson in an interview. Yet, only a few moments later, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate said his committee might also consider a measure to limit the number of embryos a fertility clinic can create when couples come to call.
Ultimately, spare embryos must be disposed of. Some parents sign them over to stem cell researchers, and that opens an ethical debate that splits Republicans right down the middle.
It’s fair to say that science has been a raw topic at the Capitol since Charles Darwin evolved his way into the classroom.
But close-quarters fighting only began last year, when Georgia’s biomedical interests were caught flat-footed by a Senate bill that — so the industry said — would have criminalized some stem cell research now going on in Atlanta and Athens. Suddenly, real money was at stake, not just a scientific theory.
Intervention at the highest Republican levels was required to stop the bill. Pass the bill, the biotech message was, and watch the best brains drain from Georgia.
R&D interests were more organized this year. They forced a compromise on the stem cell bill. And the conservative chamber of Speaker Glenn Richardson passed H.R.662 establishing the House Committee to Examine Bioeconomic Development in Georgia.
“This state cannot afford to leave the development of a bioeconomy to chance, for each year Georgia fails to act, the state falls further behind the competition and Georgia loses its substantial investment in university research programs,” the legislation reads.
The seven-member committee includes a University of Georgia professor and two biotech business executives.
State Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-Woodstock) chairs the panel. She convened a first meeting in relative obscurity, the day before the show trial on global warming.
Topics of interest include biofuels, medical and drug development, and the manufacturing of medical devices. Stuff that Georgia’s biotech industry wants to talk about.
Her committee isn’t likely to touch ideological hot buttons like stem cell research. “It’s not a priority. That’s only one small part of the bio-life picture,” she said.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Analchord.
September 3, 2007 8:44 AM | Link to this
When they post Newtons Laws of Motion in the courthouse then I’ll be satisfied.
Till then, get a map.
By Jerry
September 4, 2007 10:37 AM | Link to this
As a very red state, Georgia will never be the least bit competitive in science. Last year the chairperson of the Senate Science and Technology Committee didn’t even believe in evolution! With knuckle draggers in charge and the state mired in midieval superstition, we’d better focus on fishing tournaments.