A note from Greg Schleppenbach, Director of the Bishops' Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, fills in the blanks about the newly-publicized claims of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (and the compliant media) that the state will lose serious money if there were ever passed bans on embryonic stem cell research or cloning.
Here's Greg's note:
In case you missed it, last Thursday’s Journal Star reported that two of UNL’s most prized researchers are leaving Nebraska. I guess they just couldn’t stand the stifling, ignorant, anti-science climate in Nebraska and decided to go to a more enlightened state.
Ooops, that’s not it because they are leaving to go to -- Michigan. State law in Michigan bans all human cloning and embryonic stem cell research. ESCR has been banned in Michigan since the early 1990s and Michigan was the first state to ban all human cloning (in 1998). But surely these oppressive bans have hurt Michigan’s ability to compete in the area of bioscience right? According to Michigan’s Economic Development Corporation, Michigan has “over $2 billion invested in R & D each year and nearly 100 new life sciences companies since 2000” and “leads the nation as one of the fastest growing life sciences states.” Here’s an excerpt from the website:
Life Sciences Strengths
With over $2 billion invested in R&D each year and nearly 100 new companies since 2000, Michigan leads the nation as one of the fastest growing life sciences states. Michigan's life sciences strengths also include:
542 Companies
31,777 Employees
$4.8 Billion in Sales
Growth of Michigan's life sciences industry has exceeded growth of the U.S average, growing 27% in employment, 32% in number of companies and 165% in sales.
Michigan has led the nation in percentage growth of new companies from 1999-2002.
#2 state for overall R&D expenditures
#3 university in the nation for R&D
2nd most business friendly state in the nation, according to Site Selection magazine.
Michigan has invested $178 million over the past four years to foster growth in the state's life sciences sector
4th largest high tech workforce in the nation
Michigan State University, in particular, is “a world leader in biotechnology”, and in January 2003 it acquired a new tenured professor in its Department of Animal Science—Dr. Jose Cibelli, formerly one of the top three cloning experts at Advanced Cell Technology.
Today’s installment of UNMC’s promo ads was about how it contributes to economic development in Nebraska. There’s no argument with that assertion, but we must be tenacious in refuting its claim that LB 700 and like laws would hurt UNMCs ability to compete for researchers and dollars.