LANSING – Missouri is the only state with an embryonic stem-cell proposal on its ballot this November, but the Show Me state may do just that if citizens approve the measure, and organizations in other states, like Michigan, move to put the issue on ballot in 2008.
Embryonic stem-cell research certainly has already become the topic of conversation not only at the national level, but also in Michigan, where Gov. Jennifer Granholm has urged the Legislature’s action on bills to allow for that type of research, relaxing current laws that prohibit it. She has also set up an online petition to that effect, which has drawn criticism from Republicans.
“Pro-research is being pro-life,” she said during the first gubernatorial debate with Republican challenger Dick DeVos. Boxing champion Muhammad Ali and his wife Lonnie have endorsed Granholm, in part due to her support for embryonic stem-cell research.
DeVos has come out opposed to embryonic stem-cell research.
Legislation that would lift the state’s ban (HB 4900 , HB 4901 and HB 4901) has seen a hearing before the House Health Policy Committee, but has received no action since March. And similar Senate bills introduced in that chamber (SB 1345 , SB 1346 and SB 1347 ) are not likely to see a hearing until after the election, the Senate Health Policy Committee chair has said.
While control of the Legislature and governor’s office, up for grabs in less than a month, will certainly have an effect on whether Michigan’s law is relaxed in the future, some are saying that the outcome of Missouri’s ballot proposal could be the tip of the iceberg on the embryonic stem-cell movement.
“Missouri is a bellwether in what will be transpiring in two years,” said Dave Maluchnik, spokesperson for the Michigan Catholic Conference. “Either states are looking to relax or amend state laws that are dealing with human cloning or use taxpayer dollars to fund human cloning.”
The ballot proposal in Missouri would amend the state’s Constitution to allow patients in the state to have access to embryonic stem-cell therapies and provide that researchers could conduct “any research permitted by federal law,” but would not designate state funds to it, according to the publication Stateline.
Currently, California has promised $3 billion in funds to supplement federal restrictions on funding, followed by Connecticut with $20 million, Illinois, Massachusetts and Maryland with $15 million a piece and New Jersey with $5.5 million, according to the Stateline article.
The Missouri Legislature last year had passed a bill that would have made it a felony to conduct embryonic stem-cell research but Republican Governor Matt Blunt vetoed the proposal out of concern it would make scientists abandon the state.
Recent formation of the 501(c)3 organization Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures is evidence of the embryonic stem-cell research movement in Michigan, Mr. Maluchnik said, adding that his organization is paying attention to what arguments are being put out in Missouri in what he believes has already been a misinformation campaign on the part of measure’s supporters.
“We’re expecting something similar,” he said. “We are putting together an education plan.”
But Marcia Baum, executive director for Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures, said that the formation of their group has nothing to do with what may or may not be on Michigan’s ballot in 2008 and that there are legal limitations as to what the group can participate in.
“Our mission is strictly to educate organizations and citizens about the facts related to the science, the potential for treatment and cures and what can and can’t be done with the laws in the state,” she said. “We’re not at all entertaining anything beyond this point.”
The idea of embryonic stem-cell research certainly has been in the news headlines, Ms. Baum said, but the organization is there so people can ask questions to make a decision, for whatever purposes, based on the facts of the science.
“The time is right for an intelligent dialogue,” she said.
Michigan’s statute is considered to be one of the strictest in the nation, so there is little chance an organization would move to make it more stringent with a ballot measure of its own in 2008, Maluchnik said.
