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FROM: Genomics & Genetics Weekly July 12, 2002 SECTION: EDITOR'S CHOICE; Pg. 7 HEADLINE: REPRODUCTIVE CLONING: ADA takes positive position on therapeutic cloning, rejects reproductive cloning BYLINE: Lynn Yoffee, senior medical writer The American Diabetes Association during its 62nd Annual Scientific Sessions in San Francisco, California, called upon the U.S. Senate to consider and pass the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2002. It will allow scientists to search for a potential cure to diabetes through a scientific technique known as therapeutic cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The legislation also establishes a process to review all proposed therapeutic cloning research within the United States and criminalizes and prohibits research that pursues reproductive cloning aimed at the cloning of another human being. "The promise of therapeutic cloning for people affected by diabetes is now too important to ignore," said Christopher Saudek, MD, president of the ADA and professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. "The U.S Senate must help the scientific community resolve the uncertain legal environment facing top-notch research that could help find new therapies and maybe even find a cure for diabetes. If the Senate does not act to define our nation's approach toward therapeutic cloning, America runs the risk of driving important research overseas and possibly placing important breakthroughs out of reach of millions of Americans affected by diabetes." The ADA expressed strong opposition to legislation seeking to criminalize therapeutic cloning. This legislation aims to ban all forms of medical research using therapeutic cloning and would jail Americans seeking a therapeutic cloning procedure overseas upon their return to the United States. "Therapeutic cloning is the next step in the science that brought us the ability to make human insulin and other proteins that have saved hundreds of thousands of lives," said Francine Kaufman, MD, president-elect of the ADA. "Now is the time to ensure that physicians and patients have access to life-altering and life-saving therapies by allowing scientists to continue with therapeutic cloning without fear of reprisal. A delay in passing the protections contained in the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2002 is unacceptable. Frankly, the 17 million Americans with diabetes can no longer live with the status quo in diabetes management. Scientists must have the ability to search for a cure to diabetes within the ethical framework guaranteed by the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2002." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn