FRIDAY, SEP 10, 2010

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Proposal Details
Title: The Embryonic Stem Cell Research 2008 Ballot Proposal
Proposal:
Michigan is one of only six states to ban medical research where an in-state researcher takes stem cells from a live embryo. The 1978 law was passed in reaction to the birth of Louise Brown on July 25, 1978. She was the first "test tube baby," where conception took place outside the womb and the conceptus a few days later was successfully implanted in the mother-to-be. Two full decades later, in 1998, the special pluripotency qualities of human embryonic stem cells was discovered. Medical scientists around the world began the search for a way to use these cells to cure some of the nastiest medical conditions of mankind, such as heart and spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's desease, and Alzheimers disease. The use of these cells for research is in conflict with certain religious beliefs; those who believe that conception defines the point at which human life should be protected and that potential medical advances are an insufficient reason to excuse what they believe is a fundamentally evil act. We believe that religious groups who feel this was are entitled to their beliefs, but should not be given the ability to translate these beliefs into a public policy that prevents needed medical research, making researchers abide by a religious morality code that is not supported by a broad consensus among individuals and religions. We want the people who hold these beliefs to adopt the same public policy attitude in regard to embryonic stem cell research as they do for in vitro fertilization; be opposed in one's private beliefs, but not try to impose their values on others through the coersion of state law.
Comments:
 Medical clinics that offer in vitro fertilization use the following procedures. First, the woman is given a fertility drug to stimulate egg production. Her eggs then are put into a Petri dish and fertilized with sperm from the male donor. Several days after conception takes place, some of those fertilized eggs (usually two or three) are put back into the mother-to-be. The other eggs are discarded if it appears they are developing abnormally, or frozen for future use if they appear to be normal and healthy. The fertilized egg at this stage where it is either implanted, frozen, or discarded is known as a "blastocyst," which is a collection of 100 to 200 cells that have formed a ball-like formation Here is some of the terminology used for a fertilized egg as it develops into a baby. After fertilization, the implanted egg can be called a "conceptus." The first two months after fertilization, the conceptus is called an embryo. After two months, it is called a fetus. Stem cells can be legally used for research for only the first fourteen days after conception (not counting freezer time). After that point, the cells start using some of their pluropotency and the embryo starts to acquire a central nervous system. This fourteen-day time span was originally established in England and has become pretty much the standard worldwide. The word "embryo," though a standard classification term, can be misleading in the image many people have when picturing the subject of medical experiments. If the word comjures the image of a tiny human-looking being the size of the end of your thumb, that would be the image of an embryo after two months, when it "graduates" to the fetus stage of development. The research is actually performed on a collection of cells about the size of a period at the end of a sentence, and have no form that could be remotely considered human-like. We believe the biological parents should have the option of donating unused embryos to medical science, instead of being denied that choice by the government of Michigan. In our state, the parents can have the embryo flushed down the drain, but cannot donate it to science. What a waste!
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