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Update - May 07, 2002
Urgent! Action
Alert
MAY 8TH CALL YOUR
SENATORS
Call the
Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121
to be connected to the offices of the Senators in your
state.
Thank you for all of your hard work, but we cannot stop
now. The Senate will vote in the next few weeks on legislation
that would ban somatic cell nuclear transfer technology (SCNT,
sometimes called therapeutic cloning). The Coalition for the
Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) is coordinating a
Call-Your-Senators Day, May 8th. Please spread the word and
ask your colleagues, friends and family to call the Capitol
Switchboard at 202-224-3121, and ask to speak with your
Senators' office. Tell them why you believe SCNT research must
be allowed to continue.
As you know, the Senate has already held hearings on S.
1899, a bill by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Senator Mary
Landrieu (D-LA) that would ban all cloning including SCNT; put
researchers in prison; and deny patients the benefit of any
therapies developed from therapeutic cloning outside the
United States.
This week, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Arlen Specter
(R-PA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) have
joined together to sponsor S. 2439, legislation that would ban
reproductive cloning to create children, but permit privately
funded research involving SCNT. This legislation is widely
supported among scientific, medical, and patient groups. The
Senate may vote on this bill as well.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
Two Steps:
1. Click http://www.camradvocacy.org/
to be taken to the website of the Coalition for the
Advancement of Medical Research. This site will provide
background information on the current debate.
2. Coordinate with your friends and family to call the
Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121, on
May 8th and urge your Senators to SUPPORT S. 2439, THE
PECTER/FEINSTEIN/HATCH/KENNEDY BILL AND OPPOSE S. 1899, THE
BROWNBACK/LANDRIEU BILL, which will criminalize
potentially life-saving medical research.
Make your
support of SCNT known!!!!!
Message points for your call:
 |
Somatic cell nuclear transfer
(SCNT) is not the science fiction you see in movies, but
rather a reasonable and appropriate way to alleviate the
horrors faced by patients suffering from deadly and painful
diseases. |
|
Cloning is widely used, vital
medical tool that has allowed scientists
and researchers to develop powerful new drugs; produce
insulin and useful bacteria in the lab; track the origins of
biological weapons; catch criminals and free innocent
people; and produce new plants and livestock to help feed an
undernourished world population. |
|
The nation's leading scientists,
including two prestigious committees of the National Academy
of Sciences, agree that cloning to reproduce humans should
be illegal, but that SCNT (or therapeutic cloning) should be
permitted. |
|
SCNT is a research technique to
develop cells that can be used to treat or cure chronic and
degenerative diseases and disorders. The process has nothing
to do with sexual reproduction. Its sole purpose is research
to meet unmet medical needs. |
|
By moving stem cell research
forward, SCNT could bring new hope to the nearly 100 million
Americans who suffer from cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes,
hepatitis, Parkinson's disease and other devastating
conditions for which treatments must still be found. |
|
SCNT allows a patient's own
genetic material to be used to develop
advanced stem cell therapies. These therapies-including
transplants and transfusions-- would be tailored to match
each patient's specific medical condition and dramatically
reduce the possibility of causing the patient's immune
system to attack and reject the therapy. |
The Brownback bill would have
devastating results.
It would:
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Ban SCNT, or therapeutic
cloning, cutting-off hope to millions of
Americans with life-threatening diseases |
|
Make it illegal for U.S.
citizens to seek SCNT treatment abroad |
|
Send a U.S. scientist to jail
for developing SCNT therapies in a petri
dish |
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Make it illegal for U.S.
scientists to import SCNT therapies that were
developed in other countries |
Update
from September 24, 2002
Update
from July 16, 2002
Update
from May 26, 2002
Update
from April 23, 2002
Original
article from March 2002 Life Extension magazine
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