Missouri Roundtable for Life files its 30th ballot proposal in 20 months. The cost to taxpayers is believed to be in the tens of thousands of dollars -- but to Missouri patients, the damage could be even greater.


Leaders of the anti-stem cell group Missouri Roundtable for Life filed on Friday their 30th ballot proposal in 20 months, suggesting they care as little about the cost to Missouri taxpayers as they do about treatments and cures for Missouri patients.

The filing came only one week after Roundtable filed its 29th ballot proposal, which is expected to be rejected by state officials because the group failed to follow basic formatting requirements spelled out in state law. Like the dozens of failed proposals Roundtable filed in the past, this latest one also seeks to weaken the lifesaving efforts of medical doctors and researchers on behalf of Missouri patients.

"This anti-stem cell group has earned its reputation for trying again and again to undermine the search for cures in Missouri," said Donn Rubin, chairman of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures. "That they have filed an astonishing 30 separate petitions in less than two years would be laughable if they were not so dangerous and costly to Missouri citizens."

The final cost to taxpayers remains to be seen, but so far it's believed to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. That estimate takes into account the hours of work that state and local government employees have devoted to processing and analyzing the 30 initiative petitions. However, it does not include the amount of public money spent on lawsuits Roundtable has filed to prop up its shoddy ballot proposals.

Again and again, the group has submitted sloppy paperwork to the Secretary of State's Office or has altogether failed to follow pertinent state laws. Even when Roundtable's ballot proposals have been approved for signature-gathering, the group's leaders have failed to collect enough signatures. More recently, they have made the unusual decision to withdraw seven previously approved petitions, yet another example of Roundtable's disregard for Missouri taxpayers.

Even worse would be the cost to Missouri patients counting on the work of medical doctors and scientists searching for treatments to Parkinson's, diabetes and other diseases, if this group ever succeeded in passing one of these irresponsible proposals.

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The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures stands with more than 65,000 members and more than 100 leading patient, medical and faith organizations in protecting medical advances in our state. We work to inform the public about the promise of medical research and of the laws and policies that affect medical research and treatments. Learn more about our efforts.