LANSING – It may be another ice-cold election season, but the debate on stem cell research will stay hot and steamy in Michigan long after the polls close in November.

Just before its election break, the House passed a set of bills to promote umbilical cord blood stem cell research, while other bills that would ease restrictions on embryonic stem cell research are stalled in a House committee.           

Gov. Jennifer Granholm supports easing restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, and legislators are sharply divided.

“The fact that we haven’t had a vote is outrageous,” said Rep. Andy Meisner, D-Ferndale, a sponsor of an embryonic stem cell research bill.  “Michigan needs to embrace and pursue both kinds of research.”

Umbilical cord blood stem cell research involves the use of adult stem cells and is legal in Michigan.  However, the state currently bans embryonic stem cell research based on arguments that a human life is destroyed in the process.

If passed in the Senate, the approved House bills would give a $5 million grant from the 21st Century Jobs Fund to blood banks, create a statewide network of cord blood stem cell banks, give tax credits to donors and promote education on umbilical cord research.

Rep. Jack Hoogendyke, R-Kalamazoo, a sponsor of the approved House bills, adamantly disputes whether embryonic stem cell research deserves the same governmental support.

“Legislation regarding embryonic stem cell research is very empty rhetoric with very empty promises,” Hoogendyke said.  “There have been tens of billions of dollars in 10 or 20 years of research with absolutely no progress.”

Rep. Glenn Steil Jr., R-Cascade Township, also a sponsor of the blood cord bills, said funding for either kind of stem cell research directly relates to moral issues involving human embryos.

“As stewards of the public money, we should be putting the money where it is most useful,” Steil said.

Hoogendyke said he agrees with Steil and that embryonic stem cell research is a failed proposition. 

“We invest in plans that have reasonable returns, and no progress has been made and there have been no break-throughs with embryonic research,” Hoogendyke said.

But the debate is far from over. 

Many advocates of embryonic research say they fear that legislators are undermining the potential these cells hold for cures and treatment, according to Marcia Baum, executive director of Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures.

“Embryonic cells have the potential to replace cells after an injury or disease, could give better understanding of the origin of the diseases and could improve drug development,” Baum said.

Rep. Frank Accavitti Jr., D-Eastpointe, supports embryonic stem cell research.

“The embryonic stem cell legislation is intentionally stalled because pro-lifers don’t want to see the research move forward,” Accavitti said.  “But if you’re going to do research that could save lives, why wouldn’t you want to do it in the most promising way?”

Michigan’s laws on stem cell research are highly restrictive in comparison to other states’, especially California, Illinois and New Jersey, Baum said.

“Some states fund stem cell research with state dollars,” Baum said.

“Embryonic cells have the potential to replace cells after an injury or disease, could give better understanding of the origin of the diseases and could improve drug development.”

Meisner said thousands of embryos in national fertility clinics are thrown away and treated as medical waste each year, Meisner said.

Sponsors of the cord blood bills said that placentas and umbilical cords are also normally considered medical waste.

“That’s a huge contradiction that a lot of people don’t understand, and I don’t either,” Meisner said.

Right to Life of Michigan, based in Grand Rapids, said it is pleased with the state’s current laws that ban embryonic stem cell research.           

“We are not supportive of the Meisner legislation,” the group’s media relations director Pam Sherstad said. “That specific research destroys a human life.”

Meisner said Granholm’s support should help push a vote on the embryonic stem cell bills after the election, while Hoogendyke said he expects the Senate to pass the cord blood package by the end of the year.