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Date ____________
The Honorable __________________
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator _______________:
I urge you to vote against S.790, The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001, sponsored by Kansas Republican Sam Brownback. Passage of this bill would make it a criminal offense to conduct research on the development of new therapies using stem cells derived from very early-stage cloned embryos. It would greatly slow the development of therapeutic cloning, the most promising new technology in medicine.
Therapeutic cloning involves the generation of young, immunologically-identical cells, tissues and organs for transplant. It has the potential to cure killers such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, arthritis and Parkinson's disease. It also could be instrumental in the development of therapies to reverse the infirmities and ravages of aging, leading to longer, healthier lives for millions of Americans.
Most of the top scientists in the United States support therapeutic cloning research. These include Nobel laureates such as Dr. David Baltimore and Dr. Harold Varmus and organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Federation of American Societies For Experimental Biology (FASEB).
Scientists support therapeutic cloning research because they understand that embryonic stem cells derived from early-stage clones can potentially be transformed into a wide variety of life-saving tissues that could be transplanted into sick and aging people without rejection. They understand that the ability to develop such therapies is an extraordinary development in science that promises to revolutionize medicine in the 21st century.
It is imperative that you and your colleagues understand the enormous potential of therapeutic cloning research. If the U.S. government acts to ban this remarkable technology, it would be a huge mistake. You can avoid making this mistake by voting against The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001 (S.790). I urge you to do so.
I would greatly appreciate it if you would respond to this letter.
Sincerely yours,
_________________________
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