Message from the Chair
Stem cell research progresses; new federal guidelines
Last November, the voters of Michigan spoke out loudly in favor of curing diseases, when they approved a constitutional amendment lifting restrictions on stem cell research.
Already, the University of Michigan and other institutions in the state are conducting important work with stem cells to set the stage for new treatments for terrible afflictions. We believe significant progress can now be made in all types of stem cell research.
This week the National Institutes of Health issued new guidelines for the conduct of stem cell research. They represent a set of reasonable rules, based on sound scientific judgment, which allow the research to move forward, while assuring that all possible safeguards are in place.
They supplement the policies the University of Michigan already has in place for ethical research, as well as guidelines and regulations we rigorously follow from the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), the Institute of Medicine and the FDA.
They guarantee that stem cell research is done only in the most scrupulous legal and ethical manner.
There are recent legislative proposals in Lansing that could undo what the citizens in Michigan agreed to support. I hope you will agree that these efforts, if successful, would undermine the very progress we hope to achieve in the years ahead.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
A. Alfred Taubman
Founder and Chair, A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute
