Federally, there are no legal barriers to prohibit the use of adult/tissue stem cells, embryonic stem cell research or somatic cell nuclear transfer. It is however against the law to use federal funds to derive new embryonic stem cell lines by destroying human embryos. Moreover, guidelines implemented at the National Institutes of Health by President George W. Bush have restricted the use of federal funds, such that they can only be used to study the limited number of human embryonic stem cell lines derived before August 2001. Thus, under federal law it is legal to use private funds or state funds to derive new human embryonic stem cell lines, to perform nuclear transfer, and to study any available embryonic stem cell line; however, federal funds can only be used to study embryonic stem cell lines derived before August, 2001.

Currently, there are no federal laws which prohibit embryonic stem cell research. However, there are federal policies that limit the use of federal research funding. In the fiscal year 2003, for example, federal research grants to biomedical researchers totaled more than $20 billion. Federal funds are available for embryonic stem cell research using lines derived prior to August 2001 based on policies set by President George W. Bush and regulated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In fact, there is quite a lot of federal money available for human embryonic stem cell research, but it is only available to conduct research on the few stem cell lines that are approved for use by the federal government.

Individual states have the authority to pass laws to permit nuclear transfer and human embryonic stem cell research using state funds. Indeed, a number of states including California, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, New York and Connecticut have passed laws that encourage scientists in those states to derive new embryonic stem cell lines by providing state taxpayer money to fund research that is not currently funded by the federal government.

In contrast, a few other states like Michigan and South Dakota have passed laws that make it illegal to derive human embryonic stem cell lines by destroying embryos or to perform nuclear transfer in human eggs. These states make it illegal to perform research that is legal under federal law, and that is being actively supported by a number of other states.

Currently, Michigan law is more restrictive than federal policy. Michigan bans any research on embryos if “the research substantially jeopardizes the life or health of the embryo” without having any therapeutic benefit for the embryo. The law also makes it a crime, with a fine of up to $10 million and up to 10 years in prison, to use somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to produce a human embryo. These prohibitions essentially restrict embryonic stem cell researchers in Michigan to conducting research on embryonic stem cell lines imported from other states. Meanwhile, other states are developing robust industries based on research using embryonic stem cells, creating jobs and the potential for important cures.

Sen. Gretchen Whitmer has proposed legislation to reform this law. Others are considering introducing legislation. These proposals would, in general:

•  Remove restrictions on the derivation of new embryonic stem cell lines from embryos that are currently discarded by in vitro fertility clinics. The bill would require written consent of donors before the embryos could be used for research

•  Allow for the creation of embryonic stem cell lines through SCNT

•  Strengthen the ban on human reproductive cloning

The legislation is modeled after the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, which passed the U.S. House and Senate with bi-partisan votes, and a constitutional amendment passed by Missouri voters in 2006. You can see Sen. Whitmer's bill by clicking http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2007-2008/billintroduced/Senate/pdf/2007-SIB-0052.pdf.

Please click on the Michigan's Current Law section of this site for more information on how Michigan compares to other states.