The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Natalie W. during the 2008-2009 League.
Mission: Take Action - Letter to the Editor #1
Vote No on Proposal 2
If Proposal 2 is passed human embryos will be killed so their stem cells can be used for research. This proposal is seeking to overturn a 1978 law that criminalizes the use of embryos for research. It will allow for unrestricted research on embryonic stem cells, and it would give scientists a green light for cloning human’s embryos for medical purposes. This human cloning research would also need money to pay for its experiments. Do you know who will be paying that bill? You will. A professor at Wayne State suggests that taxpayers should be willing to pay 15 million dollars for the sake of this preposterous bill.
Proposal 2 makes it seem that all stem cell research is illegal in Michigan. It is not. Stem cell research is performed at the University of Michigan. It is, however, illegal to create human embryos for the purpose of medical research.
What people need to know is that adult stem cells are, able to be reused at the same productive level as embryonic stem cells are. They also need to know that the research on embryonic stem cells has not had more success then adult stem cell research.
Instead of killing tiny innocent babies we could instead use the ethical and humane stem cell research by using adult stem cells. The use of embryos is completely wrong. And there is no need to use them when we have ethical and non-violent alternatives.
Why should we kill an innocent and helpless child? In the constitution it talks about the sanctity of life. I believe that life begins at conception (and I believe the founding fathers did too) and the government needs to protect that life, not let them be used for experiments.
