EDITORIAL: U-M should release stem-cell research information

University of Michigan officials may be picking the wrong fight with state legislators over the release of stem-cell research statistics.

Members of the House Higher Education subcommittee are threatening to reduce state funding to the university if it doesnt turn over the information.

The subcommittees requirement is petty; its threat is even moreso.

Michigan voters saw the issue clearly enough in 2008, when Proposal 2 permitted donation of embryos produced in fertility clinics that would otherwise be discarded. It allowed government funding for research and continued a ban on cloning.

The requirement that universities provide statistics was added to the state budget last fall. It demands that they provide the number of human embryos and stem-cell lines received in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, the number of embryos used for research and those held in storage, the number of lines created and the number of ongoing research projects. Only U-M is conducting such research in this fiscal year.

The university has responded with a stack of papers and a cover sheet, but not the numbers.

Its not clear why the legislators inserted the requirement. However, Republican lawmakers proposed guidelines for embryonic stem-cell research after voter approval of Proposal 2.

They would ban attempts to create a human embryo for nontherapeutic research, prohibit sale or purchase of human embryos, research involving a cloned embryo and consent from an individual contributing an embryo. No action has been taken on those proposals.

Legislators have also indicated opposition to research on embryos with known genetic defects.

But hell hath no fury like a legislator scorned, and these elected people are clearly feeling scorned. If the university gets away with it, they say, other institutions may do so as well. Continued...

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EDITORIAL: U-M should release stem-cell research information