GOVERNOR’S STEM CELL FACTS WRONG AGAIN
Michigan Has No Ban on Research

Right to Life of Michigan again objects to the characterization by Governor Jennifer Granholm in her State of the State address that Michigan has a ban on embryonic stem cell research and that the ban is hindering the state’s scientific and economic advancement. Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing called the governor’s statement irresponsible and a blatant misrepresentation of the truth. Unfortunately, the same inaccurate accusations were made last year during Gov. Granholm’s State of the State address.

“There is no ban on embryonic stem cell research. The Governor has completely misrepresented the facts. There is a $2.2 million federally funded study underway right now at the University of Michigan, among several other embryonic stem cell projects in the state,” Listing said.

Michigan law properly prohibits human cloning and the destruction of live human embryos, but it does not prohibit research on embryonic stem cells.

To date, embryonic stem cells have yet to produce a single cure or effective treatment, and researchers have struggled to control tumor growth in the cells in both the laboratory and research animals. Lifeaffirming adult stem cells, by contrast, have treated or cured 72 conditions with no ethical implications to the research. Stem cells taken from umbilical cords after a baby’s birth have already provided cures and present no risk to mother or baby.

“Ms. Granholm is peddling empty promises that exploit desperately ill people,” said Listing. 

Michigan’s life sciences industry has been steadily growing for this entire decade. The laws preventing cloning and the destruction of live human beings have not hindered this growth.

Right to Life of Michigan is a nonpartisan, nonsectarian, nonprofit organization of diverse and caring people united to peacefully protect the precious gift of human life from fertilization to natural death. 

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