This would not legalize stem cell production lines, as the proposal clearly states that all embryos used for research must have been created for fertility purposes and would be discarded if not used for research.

The specific language within the bill makes it challenging to spot any particularly urgent ethical problem. Proposal 2 comes nowhere near most of what opponents of stem cell research find despicable.

Scientists still could not conjure up human embryos specifically for research. Moreover, the cells used for research stand no chance at attaining life. They are on the equivalent of embryonic death row.

Qualms about its restriction on further state and local laws also are misguided. The proposal still is specific enough to prevent most of what its opponents fear. There is no way it could justify production lines, as the terms under which cells can be acquired are made clear.

The largest problem with Michigan’s current law is that it requires these cells to go to waste. Though stem cell research is only in its early development, it carries promise. And this promise may not be attainable through research on adult cells, as they lack the versatility of the younger ones.

Doubts about the research’s success are not reasons to outlaw its expansion. If scientists wish to invest in embryonic stem cell research, that is their call, not legislators’.

It’s a viciously slippery slope to assert that Proposal 2 is one step closer to the evils of human cloning. If so, then isn’t all medical research one step closer to the evils of cloning? What about this proposal makes it the arbitrary “point of no return” in contrast to all the other arbitrary points of no return?

For Proposal 2 to go too far, it actually has to go too far – it cannot simply make possible that scientists go too far in the future.

Opponents of Proposal 2 need to make clear exactly what they cannot stand about the actions the proposal will in fact permit. There is little impermissible about conducting research on embryonic cells otherwise going to waste.

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