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MCC to address Michigan House committee on stem-cell research
Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 9, 2007
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The Science of Stem Cells: Finding Cures and Protecting Life
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Michigan diocesan bishops, as teachers of the faith, have launched an unprecedented education program to teach the Catholic faithful about the relationship between stem-cell research and the Catholic teaching on human life. | Detroit — The Michigan Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Church in Michigan, was to have testified before the Michigan House Judiciary Committee Wednesday (after this issue of The Michigan Catholic had published) regarding research that destroys human embryos.
In remarks prepared before the address, Paul Long, Michigan Catholic Conference vice president for public policy, stressed that many Michigan residents don't know that there are two forms of stem-cell research – one that destroys human embryos and has not yielded any medical cures; and one that does not destroy life, and has been effective in treating dozens of medical conditions.
The MCC's testimony was aimed at House Bill 4616, which Long in his remarks calls "an attack on the state's 30-year policy of protecting the human embryo from destruction."
The bill would allow embryos in fertility clinics to be designated for destruction in embryonic stem-cell research. Supporters of such research claim it has tremendous potential for curing diseases – yet researchers after decades have failed to come up with a single treatment or cure.
By contrast, the Church supports adult stem-cell research, which does not destroy human life, yet has led to more than 70 treatments and cures of various medical conditions, including juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's disease and some forms of cancer.
Long also argues that House Bill 4616 "also attacks Michigan's human cloning ban by allowing for the trafficking and killing of cloned human embryos."
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