--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research"
<[log in to unmask]>
Date: 14 Feb 2003 17:23:03 -0500
Subject: House to Vote on Weldon Bill
Urgent! Action Alert
HOUSE TO VOTE ON WELDON BILL
The House of Representatives is Planning to Vote on
The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2003
This Bill Bans Potential Life Saving Treatments!
WRITE/CALL/EMAIL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
Urge Them to Vote Against H.R. 534 and
Support Research by Supporting H.R. 801
Please Take a Few Minutes to Visit the
Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research Website
www.camradvocacy.org
and Take Action In Support of
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Research
The House of Representatives will be voting on Congressman Dave Weldon’s
(R-FL) legislation - The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2003 as early
as February 25th.
The bill would ban all forms of cloning, including somatic cell nuclear
transfer, also called therapeutic cloning. Therapeutic cloning is vital
to the development of new therapeutics that could assist millions of
Americans. Congressman Weldon’s bill criminalizes the very biomedical
research that may provide the best hope to finding cures for Alzheimer’s
disease, ALS, diabetes, various cancers, strokes, Parkinson’s disease,
traumatic brain injuries, and spinal cord injuries. We all agree, human
reproductive cloning is unsafe and unethical; CAMR has repeatedly called
on Congress to enact a ban on human reproductive cloning, however a ban
on therapeutic cloning would only dash the hopes of millions of Americans
suffering from deadly and debilitating diseases.
H.R. 801, an alternative bill, has been introduced by Representatives Jim
Greenwood (R-PA), Peter Deutsch (D-FL), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Anna Eshoo
(D-CA), and Mark Kirk (R-IL), that would allow research using therapeutic
cloning, while maintaining the same criminal penalties of Congressman
Weldon’s bill. Congressman Greenwood will try and offer this bill as a
substitute during the House debate. Tell your Representative to vote NO
on H.R. 534 and to instead support research and vote YES on H.R. 801.
Somatic cell nuclear transfer is about saving and improving lives. Go to
www.camradvocacy.org, and follow the steps to Contact Congress.
Make your support of SCNT known!!!!!
Talking Points
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.
The Weldon bill would have devastating results.
It would:
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;
Make it illegal for U.S. scientists to import SCNT therapies that were
developed in other countries.
The Greenwood bill would protect scientific research.
It would:
Prohibit human reproductive cloning and impose criminal and civil
penalties;
Allow SCNT research, which has the potential to cure life-threatening
diseases;
Maintains physician and patient access to life-saving therapies by
allowing scientists to continue SCNT research in the U.S. without fear of
reprisal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn
