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"A proposed half-cent sales tax increase on the ballot in Jackson County drew new opposition Wednesday as one of the area's top religious leaders has come out against it.The proposed increase would help fund efforts to bring top medical researchers to the area. Supporters said it would be a boon to the local economy and could help generate groundbreaking studies and treatemnts.Catholic Bishop Robert Finn released a letter on behalf of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph that said the tax would hurt the working poor. It also said the diocese cannot be sure that \"ethical research\" would be performed.At the same time, boosters of the tax proposal stepped up their campaign.Dr. Lynda Waldbone led reporters on the tour of the Bone Research Laboratory at the UMKC School of Dentistry, showing off a high-tech microscope used to watch cells in human bones.\"We take pictures of them once each half-hour and put them together like a movie,\" said UMKC researcher Leann Tiedes-Lewis. \"We can watch them move around.\"UMKC, St. Luke's and Children's Mercy Hospital would be among the beneficiaries of the sales tax increase, which was expected to generate about $800 million to lure more high-tech researchers.The campaign calls the effort \"translational medicine\" because the research could be translated into clinical treatments.\"So if I have a basic scientist, a translational scientist and a physician looking at the same problem, they can come up with ideas on how to treat disease and more therapeutics much quicker,\" said Waldbone.The tax proposal did pick up some support from organized labor Wednesday, but Kansas City Mayor Sly James said he would not take a position on it."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.kmbc.com/article/diocese-opposes-medical-research-tax-issue/3699198>