World Stem Cell Summit Opens In Detroit
The 2010 World Stem Cell Summit convened Monday in Detroit with greetings from the three presidents that make up Michigan's University Research Corridor -- Lou Anna K. Simon of Michigan State University, Mary Sue Coleman of the University of Michigan and Allan Gilmour of Wayne State University.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Gov. Jennifer Granholm also offered opening remarks.
Bernard Siegel, executive director of the Florida-based Genetics Policy Institute, creator of the summit and editor of the World Stem Cell Report, said it's no coincidence Michigan is hosting the summit two years after passing Proposal 2, which enshrined the right to experiment on human embryonic stem cells in the state Constitution.
"The World Stem Cell summit would not be here if it were not for Proposal 2," Siegel said. "Just as the voters of the state of Michigan made a commitment to stem cell reserach, we are making a commitment to the state of Michigan."
And Siegel praised Michigan as a place to do stem cell research.
"There are good reasons for all the people in this room to do business with Michigan," Siegel said, adding that Detroit "is an extraordinarily vibrant place with a cultural history that is amazing. Cities go up and cities go down, but the seeds of success in the biotechnology industry are being planted right here. You can come to the state of Michigan and set yourself up in a less expensive way than almost anywhere else in the world, and yet have all the academic infrastructure" that a stem cell company needs.
Granholm called earlier laws banning stem cell research "anachronistic" and said Michigan now joins 44 other states in allowing it.
She also touted stem cell research institutes now operating at UM, MSU and Wayne State University, as well as the Wayne County-financed Michigan Center for Regenerative Medicine in Plymouth, with its 21,000 square feet of lab, drug manufacturing and office space.
Granholm also praised the efforts of Michigan's 21st Century Jobs Fund, which has funded 96 life science companies since 2006.
Granholm said opponents of stem cell research "base their beliefs on principled grounds," but that she hopes that someday they will see that "to be pro-cure is to be pro-life."
In Michigan, only blastocysts that are created for in-vitro fertilization but are no longer needed and will be discarded anyway are used in the research.
More than 1,000 people are visiting Detroit for the conference. Siegel said it will pump more than $1 million into the Detroit economy.
The summit continues through Wednesday. More at http://www.worldstemcellsummit.com/.
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