California Stem Cell Firm Battles Congress in Fallout From Planned Parenthood Flap

"Terrorized" is how the largest circulation newspaper in California, the Los Angeles Times, put it last year. That's the description of the plight of StemExpress, a small stem cell company in the Sierra Nevada foothills in California.

Now comes the Washington Post with a lengthy piece this weekend about the Placerville firm, which was caught up in the Planned Parenthood abortion/stem cell videos that are still rattling around the Internet. The headline on the story by Danielle Paquette said,

"‘We lose money doing this’: Tiny company caught in abortion debate takes on Congress"

The Post story picks up where the Times and also a piece on the California Stem Cell Report left off last year.

 

Paquette reports that the company has had to supply Republican congressional investigators with more than 2,000 pages of documents including five years of banking records. Employees have received death threats, and now the House committee wants the names of workers, a demand StemExpress is resisting. 

One particular target is Cate Dyer, president and founder of the firm. In December, a Washington

Cate Dyer, CEO of StemExpress
Photo by Max Whittaker for Washington Post

state man was arrested, according to the FBI, after he wrote on the Internet, 

“She will have to face the souls of the babies she’s bought and sold when she arrives on the other side. I’m sending her there early.”

Dyer was interviewed at some length for the article, describing the impact on her company. But it goes beyond what is happening to StemExpress. Paquette wrote, 

"The consequences of this supercharged debate transcend one firm. Scientists and doctors across the country say the political turmoil on Capitol Hill has stalled lifesaving work and imperiled progress toward, among other treatments, a Zika virus vaccine."

Paquette said,

"Those kinds of threats and the growing political pressure have chilled stem cell research at laboratories across the country."

The Post cited a case at Stanford, as well as one in New York state, involving a slow down in research.  Researcher Steven Sloan of Stanford said he was discouraged,

“The backlash makes you think twice about proceeding with this kind of work.”

Paquette concluded her article with this from Melanie Rose, a lab technician at StemExpress,

“This tissue would be thrown away if we didn’t send it to researchers who are truly trying to save lives. I want them to see what I’m doing. That something good can come of it.”

The StemExpress Controversy and Collateral Damage

Back in July, after the Planned Parenthood, anti-abortion controversy erupted and entangled a California firm, one Internet headline read,

“Fetus Miner’s Friends in High Places”

The site that posted the headline was the American Conservative. The item referred to Charlotte Ivanic, the older sister of Cate Dyer, CEO of StemExpress LLC of Placerville. It is the stem cell and human tissue firm that was named in the videos involving Planned Parenthood.

In July, Ivanic was the highly regarded top health policy aide to House Speaker John Boehner, who denounced Planned Parenthood and approved House committee investigations into Planned Parenthood and StemExpress.

Dyer once said that her sister is “one of her biggest inspirations.”

Now she is gone from public service. She left on Aug. 5 and has become a Capitol Hill lobbyist. In a press release, Boehner said, 

“Charlotte has spearheaded some of our most significant accomplishments on behalf of the American people. She is one of the best I’ve seen at bringing people together to find common ground, and she leaves Boehnerland with the deepest respect — and best wishes — of her peers as well as lawmakers from both parties.” 

The news about her resignation was slow to ripple out. It was only yesterday that one anti-abortion Web site caught up with the news. Fireandreamitchell.com had this to say, 

“It took three weeks for Charlotte Ivancic to resign from John Boehner’s staff after the videos went public. This yet again shows that John Boehner is just a progressive like liberal Democrats. Why else would he have a leftist like Charlotte Ivancic on his staff in the first place? John Boehner is not only mentally unstable but a progressive hack too. Boehner has to go, NOW!”

StemExpress: Anti-Abortion Activists Telling "Long Series of Lies"

A beleaguered California company caught in the national, anti-abortion controversy involving Planned Parenthood late today said its foes were engaged in a “long series of lies.”

The company, StemExpress LLC of Placerville, made the charge in a statement that included the unedited portions of the latest anti-abortion video along with a transcript of what was said.
(If you would like the video, please email djensen@californiastemcellreport.com. It is a large file.)

The firm said,

“David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress today released their latest heavily edited, highly-deceptive video in which they claim StemExpress “admitted” to receiving fully intact fetuses from Planned Parenthood….

“During the video, the parties refer to 'cases,' which is a term of art referring to livers in this conversation. CMP’s accusations that this conversation somehow refers to 'intact fetuses,' which were never mentioned at any point during the entirety of the illegally recorded conversation, are false.

“StemExpress has never requested, received or provided to a researcher an “intact fetus.” CMP’s and Daleiden’s claims to the contrary are unequivocally false.”

The statement and release of the transcript reflected a more aggressive posture on the part of StemExpress, which has lost business as a result of the activists’ efforts. Its employees have also been threatened with violence.

Here is the full text of the StemExpress statement.

“StemExpress today released the following concerning CMP’s 8th video:

“David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress today released their latest heavily edited, highly-deceptive video in which they claim StemExpress ‘admitted’ to receiving fully intact fetuses from Planned Parenthood. Accompanying this document is a link to the unedited part of that video where this supposed admission discussion occurred, as well as a transcript of what was actually said.

“As anyone can see and read, the entire discussion was in fact about ‘intact livers.’ Livers are among the most urgently needed of medical tissues by scientists and medical researchers working to cure cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

“During the video, the parties refer to ‘cases,’ which is a term of art referring to livers in this conversation. CMP’s accusations that this conversation somehow refers to ‘intact fetuses,’ which were never mentioned at any point during the entirety of the illegally recorded conversation, are false.

“StemExpress has never requested, received or provided to a researcher an ‘intact fetus.’ CMP’s and Daleiden’s claims to the contrary are unequivocally false.

“Earlier today, a court found that this footage was likely obtained in violation of California criminal law prohibiting the illegal recording of private conversations. In a different court later this afternoon, Daleiden and his CMP co-defendants invoked the 5th Amendment rather than answer questions about their ongoing illegal activities in a related case in federal court. The release of today’s video and CMP’s claims about it are just another in a long series of lies.”

California's StemExpress Loses Bid to Block Anti-Abortion Videos; Appeal Being Considered

A Los Angeles judge today rejected a bid by a California stem cell/human tissue firm to halt the release of an anti-abortion video that the firm said is harming its business and endangering the lives of its employee.

The firm, StemExpress LLC of Placerville, said, however, it is considering appealing the ruling.

Brian Melley of The Associated Press wrote,

“Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joanne O'Donnell rejected efforts by StemExpress to block the videos, though she said the company likely will prevail in its lawsuit claiming its privacy was violated by an anti-abortion activist posing as a biomedical company employee.”

Melley continued,

“StemExpress won a temporary restraining order last month, but O'Donnell said Friday that the center's First Amendment rights to release the videos trumped the company's right to block them under their privacy claims.

“The judge said she couldn't tell who was telling the truth about how confidential the May meeting was, but she said the fact (David) Daleiden concealed his identity and secretly recorded the conversation made his account less believable.

“O'Donnell rejected the center's argument that the secret recordings were legal under an exemption that allows such subterfuge if someone believes they are gathering evidence of a crime.

"'Defendants' apparent ideological conviction that fetal tissue procurement is a violent felony does not, without more (evidence), rise to the level of a 'reasonable belief,' O'Donnell wrote.”

California Firm Says Anti-abortion Activists Misleading Courts, Endangering its Employees

A California stemcell/human tissue company this morning renewed its efforts to halt distribution of a video by anti-abortion activists that it says will endanger its employees and damage its business.

The firm, StemExpress LLC of Placerville, said in court filings that it was only seeking to stop the distribution of the video, not the information contained within it.

It said that the activists, the Center for Medical Progress of Irvine, Ca.,  and David Daleiden, have misled the judge in the case. The firm said the activists want to distribute the video to “inflame” the public against the company and provoke a “hostile reaction.” The company has already received death threats against its president.

StemExpress also said its request for a preliminary injunction does not violate the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The firm argued that such orders have been upheld in other cases “where anti-abortion protesters were constitutionally enjoined not in what they wanted to say, but how, where, and when they wanted to say it.  Such injunctions are simply not subject to strict constitutional scrutiny.”

The activists have argued that they did not violate state law barring recording the conversations without the permission of all parties because the discussions involved a crime -- “harvesting and killing live babies for resale.”

StemExpress noted that the activists did not report any alleged crimes to authorities during a two-year investigation.

The court filing said the activists’ belief that StemExpress is

“…‘harvesting and killing live babies for resale’ is neither objectively reasonable nor credible from a subjective standpoint.  First, abortion before viability is not murder in California…. While defendants may wish that abortions were illegal and constitute murder, that is simply not the law.  This alone precludes defendants’ purported ‘defense’ of their illegal conduct.  Second, defendants have no evidence that would even remotely support the claim that plaintiffs participated in any abortion procedure involving a viable fetus.  To state the obvious, StemExpress does not perform abortions.  And contrary to Daleiden’s hearsay statements, StemExpress has never received a living, fully-intact fetus from an abortion clinic.”

Here is the full text of this morning's filing.

  StemExpress filing 8-21-15 for preliminary injunction

Legal Setback for California Stem Cell Business Snared in Abortion Flap

A California stem cell/human tissue firm appears to be losing its battle to halt damaging videos that have entangled it in an emotional national controversy about abortion, the Washington Post reported today.

An opinion piece by UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh said that the Los Angeles judge in the case “seems to have been persuaded” by the anti-abortion activists to refrain from blocking further distribution of the videos involving StemExpress LLC of Placerville.

Quoting from the judge’s tentative ruling last week, Volokh noted that the First Amendment issues in the case apparently are carrying the day even if the activists violated state law in making the surreptitious videos. The Washington Post piece provided a link to the response by the Center for Medical Progress, an Irvine organization behind the videos. ­­­­­

Text of StemExpress Statement on Cutting Ties to Planned Parenthood

Here is the text of the full statement from StemExpress as provided to the California Stem Cell Report by a spokesman for the firm. 

"StemExpress statement Regarding Termination of Agreements With Planned Parenthood

"StemExpress at its core is a small life sciences company committed to accelerating research, advancing medicine, and saving lives. We partner with organizations also seeking to help researchers find solutions to some of life's most significant medical conditions and diseases. Our commitment to quality defines us and is demanded by our customers in the research community. 

"We value our various partnerships but, due to the increased questions that have arisen over the past few weeks, we feel it prudent to terminate activities with Planned Parenthood. While we value our business relationship with Planned Parenthood, that work represents a small percentage of our overall business activity and we must focus our limited resources on resolving these inquiries.

"StemExpress works tirelessly to accelerate the speed of helping patients globally: 7.6 million people die of cancer each year, another 7.4 million of heart disease, over 4.6 million from lung cancer, AIDS and diabetes and every 12 minutes another name is added to the national transplant waiting list. These numbers drive our work and the research community. StemExpress looks forward to the swift resolution of all inquiries and audits so we can focus our full attention on helping the medical and research community improve and save lives."

California's StemExpress Cuts Links with Planned Parenthood in Anti-Abortion Flap

A California stem cell/human tissue firm has severed its ties with Planned Parenthood in the wake of a national, anti-abortion controversy, the Politico Web site reported late today.

Politico writer Jennifer Haberkorn cited a statement from StemExpress LLC of Placerville, which said,

“We value our various partnerships but, due to the increased questions that have arisen over the past few weeks, we feel it prudent to terminate activities with Planned Parenthood. While we value our business relationship with Planned Parenthood, that work represents a small percentage of our overall business activity and we must focus our limited resources on resolving these inquiries.”

The statement has not been posted on the company’s Web site as of this writing.  (Shortly after this item was published, a spokesman released the text of its statement, which can be found here.)

The company has said in court that it has suffered damage and its executives have been threatened with violence as a result of Internet videos that were made surreptitiously by anti-abortion activists. The activists used fake names and a fake company to gain access to Planned Parenthood officials. StemExpress was identified as one of the purchasers of fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood.

Investigations into the company and Planned Parenthood have been launched by the Senate and the House. The issue has come up in the 2016 presidential race. The U.S. Department of Justice and the California attorney general are looking into whether privacy laws were violated by the anti-abortion activists.

The company has been vilified on the Internet. The latest posting involved a video of a former employee of StemExpress, Holly O’Donnell, who said that “she once saw another technician appear to obtain fetal tissue without a patient’s consent,” Politico reported. StemExpress “unequivocally” denied the claim two days ago.

The firm said,

“Like all of their previous material, (the) video by (the activists) is deceptively edited and falsely worded to suggest impropriety or illegality where none exists. (Their) continued efforts to malign StemExpress—a life-sciences company that predominantly supplies adult cells, blood and tissue to the nation’s leading researchers—will only serve to slow the pace of life-saving medical research aimed at curing disease and extending quality of life for millions of Americans.”

Earlier this week, the activists lost a bid to overturn a temporary restraining order against them. StemExpress said they also “refused to produce witnesses for depositions or respond to document requests previously ordered” by the Los Angeles superior court.

Three California Human Tissue Firms Targeted by House Committee

A Republican-dominated Congressional committee today zeroed in on three California human tissue firms entangled in the national flap over abortion and the Planned Parenthood Association.

All three were sent letters today seeking to determine whether the companies were in compliance with laws dealing with the distribution of fetal material.  They were given a deadline of Aug. 21 to provide a briefing to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Questions include procedures involving informed consent from donors, fees for fetal tissue, the amount of revenue from fetal tissues in 2014 along with policies and practices for handling fetal tissue.

StemExpress of Placerville, east of Sacramento, and its president Cate Dyer, received one of the letters. The stem cell and tissue firm has been much in the news about the controversy. The flap was triggered by Internet videos with Planned Parenthood officials that were taped surreptitiously by anti-abortion activists using false identities and false company credentials.

Both the federal and California departments of justice are investigating whether the anti-abortion activists violated the law when they made the undercover videos. 

The other two letters went to Linda Tracy, president of Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc., of Alameda, and Ben Van Handel, executive director of Novogenix Laboratories, LLC, of Los Angeles. (See the letter to Advanced here, the letter to Novogenix here.)

The letters to StemExpress and the Advanced Bioscience referred to a July 27, New York Times article that included them. The House committee letter quoted from the piece.

The article by Denise Grady and Nicolaus St. Fleur said, 

"(F)etal tissue is a uniquely rich source of the stem cells that give rise to tissues and organs, and that studying how they develop can provide clues about how to grow replacements for parts of the body that have failed.

“'Think of fetal tissue as a kind of instruction booklet,' said Sheldon Miller, the scientific director of the intramural research program at the National Eye Institute.

"Stem cells derived from adult tissue may eventually replace fetal ones, researchers say, but the science is not there yet."

All three companies were told by the House committee,

“Under the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, it is "unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human fetal tissue for valuable consideration if the
transfer affects interstate commerce." While this provision prohibits the sale or purchase of fetal
tissue itself, the term "valuable consideration" does not include reasonable payments associated
with the transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality control, or storage of
human fetal tissue. As the committee with legislative jurisdiction over the NIH Revitalization
Act of 1993, we have an oversight responsibility and interest in determining whether there is
adequate compliance with the law, and/or whether the law is adequately meeting ethical and
moral concerns." 

A Reuters story said that none of the companies has responded to a request for comment.

Text of Court Documents in the StemExpress-Daleiden Case

Coming up on Aug. 19 in Los Angeles will be the next court hearing on the temporary restraining order obtained by StemExpress against David Daleiden. (See here for a related story.)

Here is the text of the July 2015 request by StemExpress for the order.

  StemExpress Filing for Restraining Order Against David Dalaiden by DavidJensen

Here is the actual text of order that was granted.

   Temporary Restraining Order Obtained by StemExpress Against David Daleiden by DavidJensen

National Controversy Snares California Stem Cell Firm; Congressional Investigation, Presidential Politics Involved

A California stem cell firm is enmeshed today in a national flap linked to abortion, buying and selling body parts and the 2016 presidential race.

The firm is StemExpress of Placerville, just east of Sacramento in the Sierra Nevada foothills. It was mentioned in a YouTube video that was recorded secretly by abortion foes who were posing undercover in a discussion with Planned Parenthood officials.

The video has been viewed nearly two million times as of this writing. The New York Times, the Washington Post and other major news outlets are covering the story.  It has triggered virulent headlines on anti-abortion and conservative web sites.

One headline on inquisitor.com said in red type,

“Buying And Selling Aborted Fetus Body Parts For $30 To $100? ‘Stem Express’ Website Down After Undercover Video Exposes Planned Parenthood” 

StemExpress provides researchers with “high-quality stem cells they need for their research,” an employee of the firm told the California Stem Cell Report in an email last May.  The firm also supplies “human blood, tissue products, primary cells and other clinical specimens to biomedical researchers around the world,”

Reporter Sammy Caiola wrote today in The Sacramento Bee,

“The eight-minute undercover clip, which has garnered over 1 million views (as of yesterday) and inspired the popular anti-abortion Twitter hashtag ‘#PPSellsBabyParts,’ is edited in a way to suggest Planned Parenthood and its affiliates profit from fetal tissue and organs procured during abortions, which is against federal law.”

Caiola said that the video contains “a supposed image of the StemExpress website (that) shows an order form, where users can designate type of order, number of specimens, tissue type and shipping options.”

Caiola continued,

“In a statement released by Planned Parenthood, spokesman Eric Ferrero said that while many women who undergo abortions choose to donate fetal tissue to scientific research, there is no financial benefit for either the patient or Planned Parenthood. Sometimes, Planned Parenthood is reimbursed for the cost of transporting the tissue to labs, he said.

“’We do this just like every other high-quality health care provider does – with full, appropriate consent from patients and under the highest ethical and legal standards,’ Ferrero said.” 

The California Stem Cell Report this morning asked StemExpress for comment and will carry it verbatim when it is received. However, all of the news stories so far say that the company has not responded to similar requests.

(The company responded -- see here for full text -- just as this item was posted and said,

"StemExpress prides itself on complying with all laws. Our compliance protocols and donor consents have been established by an FDA-compliant Independent Review Board. Written donor consent is required for any donation, including bone marrow, tissue of all types or blood."

(The company also said,

"Everything we provide is solely at the request of the nation’s and the world’s great research institutions. Producing the isolated cells researchers need from donated tissues requires the development of complicated, often unique, research techniques using millions of dollars of scientific equipment. We are hopeful the events of the last few days will not diminish our efforts to support the research community or hinder our partners from continuing their important work.")

The company was founded in 2010 by Cate Dyer.  Inc. magazine ranked the firm 363rd on Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest-growing private companies in America last year.

Ariana Eunjung Cha of the Washington Post wrote that GOP presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson and Bobby Jindal all have spoken out on the controversy.

In Congress, Republican leaders have ordered an investigation. Jackie Calmes and Nicholas St. Fleuer of the New York Times said,

"House Republican leaders on Wednesday announced a congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood, a day after anti-abortion activists released a video of an unsuspecting official from the organization explaining how it provides fetal tissue to researchers.
 "Echoing the activists’ allegation, Speaker John A. Boehner and other top Republicans suggested that Planned Parenthood was selling fetal parts, which is illegal if done for profit. But Planned Parenthood said that while it charges for expenses such as processing and transporting, it makes no money from the fetal tissue donated by women who get abortions. The official shown in the video repeatedly says something similar to two activists posing as biotechnology representatives."