Doyle vs. Green: Stem Cell Research
The Sheboygan Press recently had a Q & A session with gubernatorial candidates Doyle and Green. I thought the answer to the question of stem cell research was particularly interesting. (The italics and bolding within the response are mine.)
What should the state do, if anything, to encourage stem-cell research?
DOYLE — “Stem-cell is only going to get decided once. If I’m elected governor, Wisconsin will move in the direction we’ve been moving, the building of the Institute for Discovery, the largest public-private research institution, off of either coast, we’ve already raised $150 million, $100 million of it private money to build in Wisconsin. Ultimately, it’s a $375 million institute. The scientists will be here, we’re going to continue the momentum.”
“Mark Green opposes embryonic stem-cell research. Now he’ll come in and tell you, ‘I’m for stem-cell research.’ We’re all for adult stem-cell research, nobody’s arguing over that. But you can ask any scientist in the world, it is not a replacement for what is happening with embryonic stem-cell research. It is a much more limited technology, much less applications. What’s happening with embryonic stem-cell research is where the hope for cure is for diabetes and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and spinal cord injuries are.”
“Wisconsin, four years from now, if he (Green) is elected governor, very simply is going to be out of the business. The researchers aren’t going to hang around here for somebody who is calling them killers and who has voted for criminal penalties. These guys have offers to go anywhere in the world all the time, and the private money that’s behind the Institute for Discovery, it’s not going to come here. This issue is going to get decided on Nov. 7, it’s going to get decided one way or another.”
GREEN —”I support stem-cell research, I support medical research as a general matter. Where I disagree with Gov. Doyle is I do not support human cloning, he does. In those nasty ads he ran, every single vote that they list is a cloning vote. I do not support human cloning. I do not believe we should create life for the sole purpose of destroying it. …I also do not support taxpayer funding for research that destroys living human embryos.”
“There’s no law against it (public funding). If Bill Gates wants to write a billion-dollar check … my point is I don’t support the use of public dollars to destroy living human embryos. You can, with this new research, it has not been perfected, but I think we’d all like to see done in Wisconsin … since we’re the national leader, derive new embryonic lines without destroying living human embryos.”
“They do not currently do research by destroying living human embryos (in Wisconsin). It does not take place in Madison. There is not one example of any request of research funding that has been turned down because of lack of public money, anywhere. That’s the actual fact. The difference between Gov. Doyle and I is human cloning, and whether or not public dollars should be used to destroy living human embryos. Again, it can take place. But the question what are you going to use limited public dollars on. That’s the difference between us.”