How would the present ballot text read in November 2006?

Wouldn't this initiative ban human cloning?

Is this initiative necessary to ensure that Missourians have access to cures in the long term?

As a pro-lifer, can I support this initiative?

I signed the Missouri Research and Cures Initiative petition without knowing all the facts. Can I still remove my name from the petition?

Frozen embryos, such as ones stored by IVF clinics, may one day be disposed of. Doesn't that make it permissible, even laudable, to harvest and destroy those embryos?

Isn’t there hope for great cures in embryonic stem cells?

If we just funded embryonic stem cell research, wouldn’t we see spectacular results?



What is the Missouri Stem Cells and Cures Initiative?

It is a proposed state amendment that would give researchers constitutional protection to perform human cloning for experimentation through the process of SCNT. Signatures are being collected to place this on the November 2006 statewide ballot. Although the wording that voters will read in the ballot box says the amendment will ban human cloning, the amendment would only ban researchers from allowing the embryonic clone to be implanted in a mother's womb or from developing past 14 days in a test tube. The amendment would not ban a researcher from making human embryonic clones specifically to be harvested and destroyed for the therapeutic benefit of others.

How would the present ballot text read in November 2006?

The ballot text of the stem cell initiative for next November would read as follows:

"Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to allow and set limitations on stem cell research, therapies, and cures which will:

• Ensure Missouri patients have access to any therapies and cures, and allow Missouri researchers to conduct any research, permitted under federal law;
  
• Ban human cloning or attempted cloning;
  
• Require expert medical and public oversight and annual reports on the nature and purpose of stem cell research;
  
• Impose criminal and civil penalties for any violations; and
  
• Prohibit state or local governments from preventing or discouraging lawful stem cell research, therapies and cures?

The proposed constitutional amendment would have an estimated annual fiscal impact on state and local governments of $0-$68,916."

For a copy of the complete Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cure Amendment (in PDF format), click here.


Wouldn't this initiative ban human cloning?

No, while the inititiative claims to ban human cloning, in reality, it would protect therapeutic cloning, a procedure that differs only in the ends from reproductive cloning (made famous by "Dolly," the sheep). Presently, the amendment defines "cloning" as the process of implanting a cloned embryo into a mother's womb. Several groups in Missouri, including Missourians Against Human Cloning, the Missouri Baptist Convention, and the Missouri Catholic Conference, have filed suit against the Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, to change the proposed amendment's wording. These groups want the amendment to define human "cloning" as the actual process of genetically contriving a human embryo using a technique called SCNT, which is the universally recognized definition of cloning in the science community. While most petition collectors will focus heavily on the "cures," very few, if any, will talk about the human cloning that is inherent in embryonic stem cell research.


Is this initiative necessary to ensure that Missourians have access to cures in the long term?

Most certainly not. Adult, not embryonic, stem cells have yielded the most promising results. Research using adult stem cells has aided thousands of people and is 20 to 30 years ahead of embryonic stem cell research. This is, in part, due to adult stem cells being a natural repair mechanism in the human body. Embryonic stem cells and their derived products, on the other hand, do not belong in an adult body and have been shown to be rejected or to develop into tumors in animal studies. To date, embryonic stem cell research has garnered no success in humans and is simply exploitation in the name of science.


As a pro-lifer, can I support this initiative?

No. This initiative is in direct violation of human dignity and life as it protects the process of cloning and killing embryos for research purposes. Since a developing embryo is a human person and obtaining stem cells from an embryo necessitates killing the embryo, this initiative is clearly unethical and any pro-lifer should be adamantly opposed.


I signed the Missouri Research and Cures Initiative petition without knowing all the facts. Can I still remove my name from the petition?

Yes, it is possible to remove your name from a petition that you signed. For more information, please click here and follow the instructions.


Frozen embryos, such as ones stored by IVF clinics, may one day be disposed of. Doesn't that make it permissible, even laudable, to harvest and destroy those embryos?

The moral scrutiny of what we may do with these embryos neither depends on them otherwise “going to waste” nor whether these embryos are “trapped” in a freezer. One extreme example of such a situation is a group of children trapped in a building through no fault of their own. It would not make it morally permissible to send a remote control robotic device into the room to remove their kidneys, hearts, and livers to be used for those in desperate need of organs simply because the children were “going to die anyway.” A good end does not justify a questionable and reprehensible means of achieving it.


Isn’t there hope for great cures in embryonic stem cells?

Although it is possible that embryonic stem cells could bring about cures, it is very speculative considering the state of the research that is being conducted and the lack of positive results. Human adult stem cells, on the other hand, have brought about several thousand treatments in over 65 different diseases.


If we just funded embryonic stem cell research, wouldn’t we see spectacular results?

Once again, it is speculative at best. Even informed supporters of human embryonic stem cell research realize that it would be many years, if at all, before any cures would be achieved. Furthermore, although human embryonic stem cell research has been limited in the United States, other countries have conducted extensive research and still no people have been cured.