Koster

Attorney General Chris Koster issued a politically charged news release from his official office today on the topic that he says paved the way for his switch from the GOP to the Democratic Party: stem cell research.

“When President Obama took the oath of office on Tuesday, he said, ‘We will restore science to its rightful place.’ I am gratified that just days later, the FDA changed course and finally decided to allow clinical testing using stem cells.”

The problem with the statement is that the FDA hasn’t actually changed course. What happened is that the FDA approved a permit for a private company to begin human clinical trials using embryonic stem cells. The company had applied for the permit some time ago, but the approval took a long time because it is the only company that had ever applied for such a controversial permit. But the company is using the lines of stem cells already approved for federal research under the previous policies of ex-President George W. Bush.

There has been no change of law or policy to allow the approval. Says the AP:

But Obama’s ascent to the White House had nothing to do with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s granting permission for the new study, Okarma said in a telephone interview Thursday.

In fact, the company says, the project involves stem cells that were eligible for federal funding under Bush, although no federal money was used to develop the experimental treatment or to pay for the human study.

The other curious element of the release is that as attorney general, Koster will be — and already has been — involved in litigation related to stem cell research.

A lawsuit that was recently tossed by a Cole County judge was focused entirely on the issue of whether state money can be used for stem cell research and Koster’s office has quite the balancing act in that lawsuit: Defending a law that restricts the spending of life sciences money while fending off opponents of stem cell research.

By making a political statement on that issue — using his office resources — Koster will surely face the same type of criticism that his predecessor, now Gov. Jay Nixon, faced over his role in defending state law against a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood. (And the same type of criticism Ed Martin received as chief of staff for then Gov. Matt Blunt in using the governor’s office to issue politically charged statements about Nixon).

Asked about the statement, Koster spokesman Travis Ford said “the statement speaks for itself.”