Mich. Senate Committee Passes Bills Clarifying 2008 Amendment On Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 25 Jan 2010 - 1:00 PDT

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A Michigan Senate health policy committee passed a package of bills that would establish additional reporting requirements for embryonic stem cell research and enforce penalties on scientists who violate limits on research, the Detroit Free Press reports. Sponsors said the bills clarify some aspects of a state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2008 that relaxed restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. The bills now go to the full Senate.

According to the Free Press, last-minute changes to the bills lessened the severity of some of the reporting requirements. The compromise addressed scientists' concerns that additional documentation and the threat of criminal prosecution would have a chilling effect on research. State Sen. Bruce Patterson (R) said the committee had to balance the need to penalize violators with the amendment's requirement that no person "shall create disincentives" to the research.

The bills also better define the amendment's original language that stem cells can only be used for research if they are "not suitable for implantation." Sen. Tom George (R), chair of the health policy committee, said the clarification would allow research on cells that might carry a certain genetic disease, but cells could not be deemed unsuitable for implantation based on gender. In addition, the bills would make it a felony to violate the confidentiality of donors or to sell embryonic stem cells (Erb, Detroit Free Press, 1/20).

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