The battle is engaged anew in Missouri.  The following articles and web
postings may be of interest.

Tony Mazzaschi
AAMC
Aug 22, 7:29 PM EDT
New proposal seeks to ban certain embryonic stem cell research
By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press Writer
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri's battle over embryonic stem cell
research intensified Wednesday as a new group proposed a ballot measure
seeking to outlaw a particular research method that voters narrowly
endorsed just last year.

The group Cures Without Cloning launched its campaign by filing paperwork
with the secretary of state's office for a constitutional amendment
targeted for the November 2008 ballot. It also set up a campaign finance
committee through the Missouri Ethics Commission.

The effort comes just nine months after Missourians adopted a
constitutional amendment guaranteeing that any federally allowed stem cell
research can occur in Missouri, including research using a controversial
embryonic cloning technique.

Without specifically repealing last year's measure, the new proposal
attempts to reverse a key portion by creating a new definition for banned
human cloning activities. It also would bar tax dollars from going to such
cloning research.

As a result of the 2006 initiative, "the Missouri Constitution currently
has confusing language, which allows the same method of cloning that was
used to create Dolly the sheep," said Dr. Lori Buffa, a St.
Peterspediatrician serving as chairwoman for the new group. "The Cures
Without Cloning initiative is meant to just make it clear that human
cloning within the state of Missouriwould be prohibited."

The sponsors of last year's ballot measure promised to vigorously defend it
from being altered by what they dubbed a "fundamentally deceptive"
initiative.

"This measure is anti-patient, anti-hope, anti-cures and completely
unnecessary," said Donn Rubin, chairman of the Missouri Coalition for
Lifesaving Cures. "These anti-cures zealots are masquerading as pro-stem
cell advocates while banning some of the most promising stem cell research
and potentially lifesaving stem cell cures."

At issue is a procedure known scientifically as somatic cell nuclear
transfer, in which a person's cell is injected into a human egg, which is
then stimulated to grow as if it had been fertilized by a sperm. Scientists
remove the resulting stem cells for research, destroying the newly formed
embryo.

There's no indication anyone is Missouriactually is conducting such
research. But proponents hope it could someday lead to treatments for such
ailments as Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries.

Last year's amendment made it a crime, punishable by up to 15 years in
prison and a $250,000 fine, to "clone or attempt to clone a human being."
But its definition of human cloning allowed somatic cell nuclear transfer,
so long as no one attempted to implant the cloned embryo in a woman's
uterus.

Opponents contend that definition is deceptive. They claim a cloned human
exists the moment scientists create that embryo.

The new ballot initiative would add another cloning definition to the
Missouri Constitution that would encompass - and ban - somatic cell nuclear
transfer.

But it would not repeal the old definition, leaving contradicting sections
in the constitution.

A spokesman for Cures Without Cloning claimed the new definition would
merely expand the old one.

"It's not conflicting with it as much as it adding on to the definition of
what human cloning is," said spokesman Curt Mercandante.

The new ballot proposal would not prohibit other methods of embryonic stem
cell research, including those conducted on embryos created - but never
used - for in vitro fertilization.

By using the word "cures" in its name, the new group is hoping to stress
that promising stem cell research doesn't need to depend on cloning
techniques. Organizers said the new Missourigroup is separate for an
Overland Park, Kan., group bearing the same name.

The $30 million campaign for last year's ballot measure was financed
primarily by James and Virginia Stowers, cancer survivors who founded the
Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, which conducts stem
cell research.

Stowers Institute President and Chief Executive Officer William Neaves
dismissed the backers of the new ballot proposal as "a handful of naysayers
who want to rob Missouri citizens" of opportunities for cures.

"Embryonic stem cell research is not human cloning," Neaves said.
"Embryonic stem cells, including those made by nuclear transfer, represent
hope for millions of patients."

www.MOcureswithoutcloning.com

Coalition for Lifesaving Cures: http://www.missouricures.com

Rayilyn Brown
Board Member AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation
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