Call To Remove Stem Cell Laws

On Wednesday, a group of medical researchers and patient advocates called on the Legislature to remove Michigan’s limits on the development of stem cells.

The sponsor of legislation to modify the bans, Rep. Andrew Meisner, D-Ferndale, said that these laws, that prohibit the destruction of embryos and embryonic cloning, make the state the least hospitable in the country for stem cell research.

Meisner’s legislation was endorsed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in last week’s State of the State address. University of Michigan researcher Sean Morrison said Michigan "can’t be a leader" in medical research with the legal restrictions now in place... Opponents of Meisner’s legislation, including the Michigan Catholic Conference and Right to Life of Michigan, criticize research that results in the destruction of human embryos as morally troublesome... Bob Kullgren, of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, said he finds the moral objections nonsensical because embryos used to develop stem cells, leftover from invitro fertilization procedures, will be destroyed anyway.

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