LANSING – As the embryonic stem cell research bills from Rep. Andy Meisner (D-Ferndale) prepare to wind through the Legislature, lawmakers in other states and Congress are also drafting laws of their own that would fund the controversial medical practice that would be used to advance life sciences.
Although the debate over embryonic stem cell use is not new, it has recently returned to the headlines nationally with President George W. Bush’s threat to veto a U.S. House bill expanding funds for stem cell research.
But a 2004 survey by Inside Michigan Politics of 600 Michigan residents found that 73 percent said they support using stem cell research, while 56 percent of Americans as a whole feel the same way.
Meisner plans to introduce the bill Tuesday, where it will likely be sent to the House Judiciary Committee, because one of the three bills in the package toughens sentences for human cloning, which is already illegal in Michigan. Meisner introduced similar bills in November that died in the lame-duck session.
Rep. William Van Regenmorter (R-Jenison) said he has not seen the bills and did not want to make judgments yet, but said he is fundamentally opposed to both cloning and embryonic stem cell research.
Meisner’s legislation would allow publicly supported institutions to perform embryonic stem cell research, permit the creation of stem cells and retain and strengthen the ban on human reproductive cloning. Currently, Michigan law bans state funding for embryonic stem cell research and cloning, which it has since 1998.
“Michigan’s ban on stem cell research poses a threat to potentially life-saving breakthroughs in medicine, and poses an unreasonable obstacle to the creation of high paying jobs in the life sciences field,” Meisner has said.
To applause, Governor Jennifer Granholm told the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Mackinac Leadership Conference that she supports both kinds of stem cell research.
“Personally, I think it is pro-life to be pro-cure,” she said at an event Friday, adding she doubted the Legislature would approve a measure allowing for embryonic stem cell research.
Meisner has said the bills would hopefully bring more researchers and therefore more jobs to the state. Dave Maluchnik, communications associate with the Michigan Catholic Conference, said destroying life to create jobs in Michigan is wrong.
“We don’t think the government should be in the business of creating or destroying human life,” he said, adding Michigan should direct attention to adult stem cell research, which is ethical and already being used to treat diseases.
Jon Kelty, a biology professor at Central Michigan University, said many people don’t understand what stem cell research is and oppose it on basic principles. He said scientists are also looking at bone marrow and fetal cord blood as alternate ways to acquire stem cells.
“Most scientific societies are pushing for increased stem cell research because potential benefits are great,” he said. “I’m struggling with it myself, though.”
Every type of cell in the body begins as a stem cell and has the potential to perform any and all life-regulating functions that take place in the body. Until it receives a signal telling it what bodily function it will perform, a stem cell will continue to divide and multiply.
Because stem cells can have varied functions and can develop into different types of specialized cells, scientists say stem cells have the potential to help cure medical conditions and diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, some paralysis and Parkinson’s disease. Stem cells can be “coached” by the recipient’s body to rebuild cells harmed or damaged by some severe diseases.
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA.) is sponsoring the Senate version of the stem cell bill and has said it is scandalous that the U.S. does not have the best medical care available when so many struggle with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease and cancer. The House bill, which passed 238-194, would permit the expansion of federally funded stem cell investigations and allow fertility clinic frozen embryos, destined to be destroyed, to be used at research labs that receive federal money.
As Michigan and the U.S. fight internal battles on the issue, other states are moving ahead with their own similar bills. Last November, California voters approved a $3 billion bonding initiative of which $300 million would be for annual stem cell research funding – the amount is more than any country spends, including the United States. Total U.S. funding on the research is around $25 million.
The Connecticut Senate approved a 10-year $100 million spending package last week to fund embryonic and adult stem cell research, while Washington State is also discussing funding the research. Wisconsin has announced plans to invest $375 million in the research over the next 10 years, while New Jersey has said they will expand research efforts and Illinois has proposed a $1 billion, 10-year stem cell initiative funded by a tax on cosmetic procedures. New York, Delaware, and Florida are also looking at possible funding methods for the research.
The controversy is strong in Massachusetts, where on Tuesday its legislature overrode Republican Governor Mitt Romney’s veto of a bill aimed at supporting embryonic stem cell research.
Many of the states have passed the bills to both strengthen their economies and help find cures for debilitating diseases.
Currently, nine states – Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Virginia – have a ban on the research.
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