By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-887881.mp3
LANSING, MI –
Governor Granholm says she will not approve any efforts to write new restrictions into the amendment that allows embryonic stem cell research at publicly funded research clinics.
AUDIO:
The voter approved-amendment reversed Michigan's ban on state funding for embryonic stem cell research. Opponents of that research and the ballot question are now trying to enact rules to regulate and limit how researchers could obtain the stem cells from fertility clinics.
But Granholm - an enthusiastic backer of the ballot proposal -- says those bills are a waste of time because she won't sign them.
The governor says she is siding scientists who say the Senate bills would potentially outlaw some lines of inquiry and scare off researchers.
"The people working in life sciences don't think that clarification is necessary and, in fact, may hinder it," she says.
The governor says stem cell research will put Michigan doctors further into the game of finding cures for many diseases, and boost a growing sector of the state's economy.
