You're right Gary.
The bill that passed the House Judiciary Committee does ban therapeutic cloning
research. But we don't have to get too alarmed about this. Although the House
has passed similar legislation in the past, it did not make it through the U.S.
Senate. We have strong allies in the Senate who believe in the healing potential
of therapeutic cloning biomedical research.
If anyone in this discussion group would like to join us in putting a human face
on the need for this research, please visit the website: www.stemcellaction.org
(or just reply to me directly). We are gathering "portraits of hope" of people
who have an illness (such as Parkinson's) that stem cell research might help to
cure. We will send these "portraits" to federal and state legislators -- thereby
bringing home the personal and urgent character of our request for government
support for this research.
I think that what confuses people is this clause in the House Judiciary
legislation:
(d) SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH- Nothing in this section restricts areas of
scientific research not specifically prohibited by this section,
including research in the use of nuclear transfer or other cloning
techniques to produce molecules, DNA, cells other than human embryos,
tissues, organs, plants, or animals other than humans.
Notice the qualification on what the legislation permits: "other than human
embryos." This rules out SCNT (somatic cell nuclear transfer, also known as
"therapeutic cloning"), although one might not think so upon first reading.
"Nuclear transfer," in the above statement, refers to taking a cell nucleus and
transferring it to another cell, but NOT to a human egg cell. An SCNT-produced
zygote -- an entity on a laboratory Petri dish that is invisible to naked eye
and that is used to generate stem cells -- is the "human embryo" that these
legislators wish to "protect". My guess is that they know very little about
the science, and imagine a baby somehow encapsulated in that zygote that they
will -- as self-appointed good Samaritans -- protect at any cost.
It is noteworthy that thoughtful Christian fundamentalists, like Senator Orrin
Hatch of Utah, strongly support therapeutic cloning research.
Raymond Barglow
****************
Gary L Peskin wrote:
> Please read the text of the bill at
> http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.534:
>
> You'll find that this bill does, in fact, clearly prohibit therapeutic
> cloning. In addition it does make outlaws of patients who received
> treatment abroad with a product derived from an cloned embryos. See section
> 302(b).
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network
> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stan Boswell
> > Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 9:02 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Fwd: Re House Judiciary Committee passes HR 534 bans
> > ALL cloning research
> >
> >
> > Please fwd this as appropriate. It should help soothe some
> > raw nerves, and set the record right.
>
> > Those addressees who read -- probably cussed at -- the recent msg I shared
> on
> > the same subject may have a strong desire to join a crew -- any crew --
> that
> > was about to tar and feather the bill's authors. After all, the msg had
> > Messrs. Weldon and Stupak's advocating jail time for patients returning
> home
> > after receiving treatment using therapeutic -- Not reproductive --
> cloning.
> > In other words, the msg was saying that HR 534 would make ALL cloning
> > research illegal; not just research using embryos.
> >
> > But the author of the msg I forwarded appears to have been off base -- or
> at
> > least pre-mature in his judgment of the bill's coverage. In pulling up
> HR
> > 534 on the Congressional web site, I found that the bill does not prohibit
> > therapeutic cloning. In fact, rather than try to explain further, I invite
> > you to review the attached file.
>
> >
> > Stan Boswell
> >
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> > In the body of the
> > message put: signoff parkinsn
> >
>
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