Group Files Petition Signatures For Mich. Ballot Initiative To Loosen Stem Cell Research Restrictions

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 10 Jul 2008 - 10:00 PST

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A Michigan organization, the Stem Cell Research Ballot Question Committee, said it had filed more than 570,000 signatures in support of a ballot initiative to loosen state restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research, the AP/Google.com reports. According to the AP/Google.com, more than 380,000 of the signatures must be ruled valid for the proposal to appear on the November ballot.

Current Michigan law only allows research on embryonic stem cell lines from California, Illinois or other states with less restrictive laws. Those lines sometimes are patented by other researchers, the AP/Google.com reports. The proposed initiative would allow researchers in Michigan to conduct stem cell research using embryos created for fertility treatments that were not used or were unsuitable for implantation and would otherwise be discarded. According to supporters of the initiative, the language specifies that the proposal does not seek to change state laws that prohibit and criminalize human cloning.

The Michigan Catholic Conference and Right to Life of Michigan oppose the proposal because it involves the destruction of human embryos. An opposition group called Michigan Citizens Against Unregistered Science and Experimentation also is forming, the AP/Google.com reports. David Doyle, the group's spokesperson, said, "The proposal is deliberately deceptive," adding, "It's the confusing legalese that is the problem." Opponents also argue that the proposal does not explicitly put a ban on human cloning in the state constitution, so cloning could be allowed if state law changed to permit it. However, proponents of the initiative said that the proposal only protects and strengthens the state's ban on human cloning, adding that embryonic stem cell research has the potential to treat or cure diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's and sickle cell anemia (Martin, AP/Google.com, 7/8).

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