Michigan voters will decide next month whether the state will continue to have some of the most restrictive laws governing embryonic stem cell research in the country.
While federal law allows research on embryonic stem cells, federal funding is restricted to the lines that already existed when President Bush articulated the policy on August 9, 2001. Since then, the issue has been taken up by individual states, with some providing their own funding, some outlawing the research altogether, and others falling in between.