TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, who announced in August that he is resigning over a homosexual affair, recently became the center of controversy regarding the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey.

The Jersey City Reporter said in late August that McGreevey may be appointed to a top-level position with the institute when he leaves office. The newspaper quoted an undisclosed source as saying that McGreevey's chief counsel, Michael DeCotiis, was looking into what positions may be available to the governor at the institute after he leaves office.

McGreevey promoted creation of the institute with the help of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

The governor announced Aug. 12 that he would step down on or before Nov. 12. Speculation was that McGreevey's successor, state Senate president Richard Codey, would appoint McGreevey to an institute post. Codey is to serve the remainder of McGreevey's term through 2006.

McGreevey's office has denied there is any movement afoot to gain a position at the institute. Attempts to reach his office for comment were unsuccessful.

The possibility of Democrat McGreevey joining the institute raised the ire of New Jersey Republicans, as well as opponents of the institute.

New Jersey's conflict-of-interest law prohibits members of the state Assembly from taking a publicly funded state position created by laws passed during their terms. Republican Assemblyman Bill Baroni this month introduced legislation to amend the conflict-of-interest law to formally include the governor's office under the same two-year moratorium that applies to assemblymen.

“We're not even sure the acting governor will appoint” McGreevey, said Assembly Republican leader Alex DeCroce. “We just wanted to put the brakes on any consideration of the appointment should it be thought of at this point.”

First in Nation

The Stem Cell Institute would be the nation's first state-funded research facility dedicated to such research.

The Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, where there are some 26 stem-cell researchers on site, is actively recruiting senior scientists and physician scientists for the institute. Preliminary blueprints have been completed on the approximately 150,000-square-foot facility adjacent to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Groundbreaking is expected before the end of this year, with completion within three years.

The state allocated $9.5 million to the institute. The institute's managing partners, Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry — both state-funded schools — will contribute $1 million each, bringing the total to $11.5 million.

Dr. Ira Black is the founding director of the Stem Cell Institute and professor and chairman of the department of neuroscience and cell biology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He says the institute plans to pursue “basic stem-cell research and biology simultaneously with clinical application, so that we certainly plan to have basic science discovery that is translated into bedside, therapeutic approaches.”

Black defended stem-cell research, pointing to successes with the use of adult stem cells from bone marrow to treat brittle bone disease in children. “With the use of adult bone-marrow stem cells, four out of five young patients have been able to walk with support,” he said. “In addition, they are beginning to grow normally.”

Bone-marrow transplant also is common practice in the treatment of leukemia.

“The potential benefits are quite remarkable,” Black said. “We are talking about the replacement of dead, dying or dysfunctional cells. We envision being able to treat a number of degenerative neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, as well as stroke and spinal cord injuries.” He also cited preliminary success in the area of cardiac disease in animal models.

The Washington Post repoted in June that Alzheimer's is “among the least likely to benefit” from embryonic stem-cell therapy.

But the use of embryonic stem cells is where the debate begins, and it has energized the Catholic Church in New Jersey and the state's Right to Life organization.

Right to Life lobbied against creation of the institute, as well as McGreevey's possible appointment. Marie Tasy, public and legislative affairs director for New Jersey Right To Life, said there were “very obvious signs” that McGreevey joining the institute could be a possibility.

His hiring, the group asserts, would mean the outgoing governor would profit from the project he promoted and have “unfettered access to secure funding year after year (from) which he would personally benefit.”

The New Jersey Catholic Conference, on behalf of the state's bishops, has said the facility would permit research “involving the derivation and use of human embryonic stem cells derived from ‘excess’ human embryos stored at in vitro fertilization clinics or from cloning or somatic cell nuclear transplantation.”

Executive director William Bolan Jr. said the bishops have “great compassion for those who suffer from illnesses and look to such research to cure or otherwise treat their disease,” adding that the group does support research on adult stem cells.

“I am somewhat troubled by unreasonable expectations by those folks who are suffering from diseases and believe that embryonic stem-cell research will cure them, if you will,” Bolan said. “The success has been in adult stem-cell research.”

In its appeal to New Jersey law-makers to oppose the institute, the conference wrote that “the creation and destruction of human embryonic stem cells violate the sanctity of human life (and) violate a central tenet of all civilized codes on human experimentation … These acts approve doing deadly harm to a member of the human species solely for the sake of potential benefit to others.”

Black said one goal of the facility is to determine “which stem cells are most effective for which diseases for which patient under which circumstances.” While that question remains unanswered, he adds that one of the “outstanding questions is to determine what the potential is of so-called adult stem cells versus embryonic stem cells.”

“I can say categorically: We will never clone a human being, nor is this related in any way whatsoever to abortion,” he said. “We are simply talking about obtaining cells so we can compare embryonic cells, fetal cells, neonatal cells and adult cells to find out how each performs and which would be better for which diseases. There is no connection to abortion; there is no connection to the destruction of embryos.”

But the conference points out that the embryo is a human being as soon as the male sperm cell fertilizes the ovum of a female and the union results in the zygote or embryo.

A human embryo is a child in the first eight weeks from conception, a unique boy or girl with his own DNA, life expectancy and right to life.

The institute will partner with multinational pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies in the private sector. Black said it is too early to discuss which companies may join the venture.

Wayne J. Forrest writes from Providence, Rhode Island.