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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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