AveWatch has an audio clip of a Naples Press Club interview with a Jackson Labs VP. The reporter asks about the nature of Jackson Labs's stem cell research, the proximity of the new facility to Ave Maria (and the fact that Jackson Labs might even have Ave Maria's blessing), and whether Jackson Labs has made any assurances about what it will or will not do at the facility.

The Jackson Labs VP starts by giving a highly evasive answer about what kind of science it pursues, but pretty much states that Jackson Labs will do anything and everything possible "to pursue the truth wherever it leads us." I think it's fair to assume that Jackson Labs has no problem with pursuing "the truth" by means of human embryonic stem cell research.

The VP then says that Jackson Labs has made "no assurances to anyone about anything," regarding what scientific procedures would be acceptable at an Ave Maria facility. The VP adds that requiring some limitation on Jackson Labs's scientific practices as a condition for building near Ave Maria Town "would not be an acceptable position for us."

The reporter asks whether anyone has broached this possibility with Jackson Labs. The VP says that "Nobody has asked us not do anything."

Well, I guess that answers one of the questions I had, about whether Monaghan required assurances that Jackson Labs wouldn't engage in unethical science before approving the land sale. The answer is no. Sigh. So Monaghan solicits donors by citing the problem of embryonic stem cell research, while at the same time approving a new lab that is in the embryonic stem cell research business. Real nice.

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