By a vote of 21 to 12 the South Dakota Senate shot down a bill that could have repealed South Dakota's ban on embryonic stem cell treatments.

Two weeks ago Senate bill 74 was introduced, the bill was intended to repeal the ban against stem cell research and to establish ethical guidelines to regulate stem cell treatments. Just monday, the Senate Health and Human services committee amended the bill nearly changing it entirely.

The revised bill would have allowed South Dakotans to use any Food and Drug Administration approved treatments derived from embryonic stem cells.

The question of ethics is nearly always brought to the table when the discussion turns to embryonic stem cell research. Those in favor of the idea see this research as ethical and see it advancing.

"Mainly it's just that there are advancements being made and we're not allowing our citizens to take advantage of those advances," says Carol Rosenthal, who works for an organization that was established for the creation of this bill. She's the co-chair of South Dakotans for Life Saving Cures and says this bill not passing is a major loss to South Dakotans.

On the other side, Kaia Kloster, who has a PhD in Physiology is an independent voice against stem cell research. "If we are to allow FDA approved treatments to happen here we're just endorsing the same type of research to be happening somewhere else. FDA doesn't approve treatment without research so that research is going to happen somewhere."

That's why Kloster was an opponent to this bill even after the amendment.

Both sides agree that the bill forces education on the topic, even if they can't agree on the findings of the research.

Rosenthal says, "The research is going on around the world, it'd be nice if some of that research was going on in South Dakota as well but at least if our citizens could take advantage of that research."

Nearly contridictin Rosenthal, Kloster claims, "Embryonic stem cell research is not resulting in effective treatments and so by allowing this type of research it doesn't necessarily mean we're going to get there. I think it's really important for the public to be aware that there's been a significant amount of research done."