Judge Okays Stem Cell Initiative Language

Weeks of depositions, hours of testimony in the courtroom, and the issue of whether the petition to protect stem cell research in Missouri is misleading in its language all boils down to one sentence from Cole County Judge Byron Kinder. He says the ballot language is fair, accurate, and impartial. Plaintiffs in the case had tried to argue that the part of the measure that purports to ban all cloning was misleading because it would allow somatic cell nuclear transfer, a type of cloning in their view. But the defense, including lawyers representing Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, successfully argued that the measure was clear enough because it would ban what most people considered cloning, the actual live birth of a cloned human. Lawyers for the plaintiffs, including the Missouri Bishops, could not say whether they plan to appeal the ruling. Proponents of the measure are now circulating petitions to put the issue before the voters in November.