Just in time for Halloween, opponents of embryonic stem cell research have presented yet another horrifying example of their complete disregard for the truth. Their latest television ad in opposition to Proposal 2 equates the Tuskegee Syphillis Experiment with what they allege will be unrestricted research on “live human embryos” if the measure passes.

For those who have only a vague recollection of the Tuskegee experiments, researchers from the U.S. Public Health Service deliberately withheld treatment for southern Black men with syphillis, as part of a study on the effects of race on the disease. They also failed to inform these men they were ill. PHS went so far as to ask the draft board to keep quiet, even though others diagnosed during their induction physicals received a diagnosis and treatment. The whole, sordid story is on the Tuskegee University Web site.

While Prop 2 opponents, who have constantly bent and twisted the truth in their fear-mongering campaign, probably feel the whole “unrestricted research” argument makes this commercial “truthful”, it’s interesting that they make this particular comparison. First of all, as I’m sure they’re aware, race is a big issue in this election. Are they suggesting that the Tuskegee racist and unethical practices might also happen here in Michigan, some 80 years later?

That’s what bothers me most about the anti-Prop 2 movement, which is guided and funded primarily by anti-abortion groups, including a number of churches. It isn’t the lying, or the manipulation – like salting the commercial with an out-of-context quote from the Detroit Free Press, which published a ringing endorsement of Proposal 2. It’s the assumption that Michigan researchers would behave in an unethical manner, violate federal laws and the restrictions set forth in this amendment, not to mention their own professional and ethical standards. Whatever happened to not bearing false witness against your neighbor?

WXYZ Channel 7 reporter Steve Wilson has done an in-depth piece on the distortions in this campaign. He traveled to California to learn what happened there after voters approved funding for embryonic stem cell research. The report is on-line here.