Essay: Religious Bigotry - 11/6/07

Let’s suppose that the Christian Science church was immensely wealthy, so much so that they could have undue influence on the Michigan Legislature. Let’s further suppose that a radical faction won control over that church, and proclaimed it their sacred duty to prevent anybody from receiving modern medical care.

Not just Christian Scientists, anybody in the state. Hospitals and medical specialists would be outlawed outright. Whatever the few remaining doctors were allowed to do would be severely limited and violations would be subject to harsh penalties.

You can imagine what this would do to our state’s economy. Not to mention our state of health. Do you suppose anyone would want to bring new jobs to Michigan? On the contrary, anyone with brains and ability would get out of here as fast as they could.

Well, a version of that is happening in Michigan, right now. But it doesn’t have anything to do with Christian Science.

Our future is being held hostage by Right to Life of Michigan, a group which wants to do for medical progress what the Inquisition did for freedom of thought. We are one of the most backward states in the union when it comes to embryonic stem cell research.

Nobody is as backward as we are except North and South Dakota, Louisiana and Arkansas. That’s right. Alabama and Mississippi are more enlightened than we are on what scientists generally agree is the most promising medical frontier.

Embryonic stem cell research holds the potential to develop cures for disease, including Parkinson’s, diabetes and macular degeneration. Even cautious scientists believe that in time and after experimentation, they may be able to use stem cells and a process called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer to regenerate damaged nervous systems. What that means is that people with severe spinal cord injuries may be able someday to get up and walk.

What you would think is that government at every level should be pouring billions into this research. Yet we can’t do it at all in Michigan. That’s because of religious fanatics who think it violates the sanctity of human life. They want you to think that the scientists want to destroy human life to do this research.

They want to do no such thing. They would use discarded embryos from fertility clinics, leftover tiny lumps of cells that are otherwise thrown in the garbage. President George W. Bush also believes this is wrong.

But all he has done is veto bills denying this research federal funding. Here in Michigan, we have outlawed it totally. Think of what could happen if Grand Rapids’ Van Andel Institute or the University of Michigan’s medical school were free to work on stem cell research.

Think of not only the scientific but economic boost that could give our state. Right to Life controls too many politicians to let the state legislature do the right thing. What we need, and deserve, is a statewide vote on whether to allow embryonic stem cell research.

Our future is at stake, in every possible way.

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Comments

[David]

The University of Michigan is "free to work on stem cell research."

Researchers at the University of Michigan are working on human embryonic stem cells right now and have been doing so for a number of years. They even received a 3-year federal grant for more than $2 million dollars (around $750,000 a year for 3 years) for this research in 2003.

http://stemcells.nih.gov/news/NIGMSgrants.asp

The University of Michigan has a policy statement on which human embryonic stem cells they use.

http://www.research.umich.edu/policies/um/HESCpolicy.html

The University also has a question and answer on embryonic stem cell research which notes:

"What kinds of human embryonic stem cells can be used in U-M research?

U-M research studies funded by the National Institutes of Health or other federal funding agencies are restricted to existing stem cell lines, created before August 9, 2001, and listed on the NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry. Privately funded U-M research studies can be conducted with new cell lines not listed in the NIH registry, as long as they meet the conditions outlined in the university’s official policy statement..."

http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2005/stemcellqa.htm

The University of Michigan even has a Michigan Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research.

http://www.med.umich.edu/medschool/hes/

So it seems that the University of Michigan is "free to work on stem cell research" and has been doing so for quite some time. What they're preventing from doing is killing human embryos for research or attempting to create cloned human embryos through somatic cell nuclear transfer. Why does Jack Lessenbery act like Michigan law prevents researchers from using embryonic stem cells when it is clear as can be that they do use embryonic stem cells?

[Jack Lessenberry]

The existing lines are well known to be inadequate for necessary research, and in any event are contaminated with mouse DNA. Scientists say new lines are needed.

[David Harned]

Dear Mr. Lessenberry,

Your column of November 6th opened with an analogy, which mentioned Christian Science as an imaginary culprit preventing citizens of Michigan from using the healthcare system of their choice. You went on to say that your real concern, the prevention of stem cell research, had nothing to do with Christian Science.

Do your readers and listeners know that Christian Science has never stood in the way of any kind of medical research? We work with the state legislature to protect our own religious freedoms within the law, not to impose restrictions on others.

Your position on stem cell research ultimately had nothing to do with Christian Science, but I wonder if everyone listening caught the disconnect. Your clarification would be welcomed.

Sincerely,

David Harned
Christian Science Committee on Publication for Michigan

[David]

Mr. Lessenberry,
You can make that claim and argue for it but you shouldn't be making false claims about whether embryonic stem cell research is allowed in Michigan. Your essay claims Michigan has "outlawed it totally" That claim is simply false. You should issue a correction.

You also claim Bush "veto bills denying this research federal funding." He vetoed bills which would have expanded federal funding. Bush is actually the first president to allow federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. The federal government has provided more than $100 million dollars to human embryonic stem cell research.

Your claim in the comment above seems to mean that you recognized that embryonic stem cell research is legal in Michigan. If so, why were you intentionally misleading your listeners? Propping up laws which don't exist and then attacking them instead of accurately describing the current law and then making a reasoned argument for why the law needs to be changed are two very different things.

If you want to make the claim that Michigan researchers need to kill human embryos to get new embryonic stem cell lines - fine - but don't act like U of M researchers aren't allowed to work with embryonic stem cells especially when you seem to know the truth.

Second, you've provided no argument for why Michigan researchers need to be the ones killing embryos. Why can't they just import new embryonic stem cell lines (not grown on mouse feeder cells) from other states? Why go to all the trouble of a ballot initiative when researchers can import new embryonic stem cell lines?

Third, researchers like James Thomson (who was the first to create embryonic stem cell lines) have shown that embryonic stem cell lines grown on mouse feeder cells can be cleaned of mouse DNA.

Also, Thomas Okarma (president of Geron, a company involved in embryonic stem cell research) said this regarding the mouse feeder cells: "We've got the world's only GMP master cell bank of human embryonic stem cells with lines that are fully qualified for human use which, by the way, are two of Bush's approved lines. So the stuff you hear published that all of those lines are irrevocably contaminated with mouse materials and could never be used in people -- hogwash. If you know how to grow them, they're fine."

Maybe you should have more sources for your stem cell information than misleading advocates like Rep. Meisner and Sean Morrison.

[CGB]

When are all the backward folk going to just go back in their caves?

Our state is hurting but these knuckle draggers don't care at all. They are going to keep Michigan suffering for many years to come. Thanks Engler. It was you and your ilk that has destroyed our once great state. It takes years of laws to affect a state. Our's is suffering from the Engler years.