Missouri Matters: The State of Stem Cells
Protesters against the 2006 stem cell initiative.
Source: AP.
Cures Without Cloning, a Missouri group that opposes embryonic stem cell research, is trying to overturn the results of last year’s ballot initiative that amended the Missouri state constitution to protect stem cell research in the state. The CAP Bioethics Initiative posted an update last week. Here’s a roundup of the latest:
The Columbia Tribune reports on CWC’s dismal efforts at raising funds. The group currently has “$2,020 in cash contributions and $12,105 in debt.” The pro-embryonic stem cell research group, Coalition for Lifesaving Cures raised $587,656 in September.
With regard to the Missouri Secretary of State’s wording of the ballot question, the Kansas City Star has no problem with it, maintaining that, “[i]t is wrong to equate creating a ball of about 300 cells in a lab dish to the cloning of a human being in a woman’s uterus.”
Both CWC and CLC have aired their grievances with the ballot language by filing lawsuits. According to the Columbia Tribune, CWC contends that the ballot language is inaccurate, misleading, biased, and infringes on their free speech rights. CLC claims that the title of the summary, “The Missouri Cures Without Cloning Initiative,” is unnecessary because it amounts to a second summary. CLC says that instead of claiming the initiative will have a “significant negative fiscal impact,” the initiative should have the actual amounts it would cost the state and local governments, which are at least $200 million and $25 million respectively. The Kansas City Business Journal has additional details on the financial impact of the ballot and how it factors into the lawsuits.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan supports embryonic stem cells, but still finds the ballot language misleading.
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