 |
 |
Listmembers from NYS - please see***comments below FROM: The Associated Press State & Local Wire March 19, 2003, Wednesday, BC cycle SECTION: State and Regional HEADLINE: New York Assembly passes legislation authorizing stem cell research; criticizes Bush BYLINE: By ALICIA CHANG, Associated Press Writer DATELINE: ALBANY, N.Y. " Actor Christopher Reeve and state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on Wednesday criticized the Bush administration's stance prohibiting human cloning for medical research that Reeve said could help millions of people overcome disease and injuries. "I have serious objections to the total ban on therapeutic cloning and somatic cell nuclear transfer advanced by the Bush administration," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said. The remarks came after the Democrat-led Assembly passed legislation, 96-46, permitting stem cell research and therapeutic cloning yet forbidding reproductive cloning to make babies. The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate. Last month, the House passed a Bush administration-supported bill that would ban all human cloning - for reproduction and research - and impose a $1 million fine and a prison sentence of up to 10 years for violators. Reeve, who suffered spinal cord injuries in a horseback riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down, said it is now up to individual states to promote stem cell research. "The federal government has failed in the past and it is likely to fail again," the 50-year-old actor said during an appearance with Silver. Supporters argue stem cell research could lead to treatment and prevention of a spectrum of devastating diseases including Parkinson's Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer. Federal law prohibits government funding of research that results in the death of an embryo. White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said President Bush supports efforts in Congress to ban all human cloning, but believes in advancing research through "ethical stem cell research." Stem cells are created in the first days of pregnancy and give rise to the human body. Scientists hope to someday direct stem cells to grow into replacement organs and tissues to treat a wide range of diseases. But to harvest stem cells, researchers must destroy days-old embryos through cloning. In cloning, genes from an adult cell are implanted into a human egg from which all the genetic material has been removed. The egg is then cultured into an embryo that, if implanted in a womb, would produce an offspring that would be a genetic duplicate of the cell donor. Last year, in a move that contradicted the Bush administration policy, California became the first and so far, the only state allowing embryonic stem cell research. Silver said he believes biotechnology companies would flock to New York and help boost the economy once it legalizes stem cell research and therapeutic cloning. Gov. George Pataki, who had not yet seen the Assembly proposal, said he supported stem cell research. The New York State Catholic Conference opposed the Assembly bill, calling it a "moral outrage." "We sympathize with those who suffer illnesses or disabilities that can potentially be aided by stem cell research. But nothing can justify the creation and killing of human beings for the purpose of possibly curing other human beings," said Executive Director Richard Barnes." ------------------------------------------- ***New Yorkers - this bill must still be passed by the State Senate and signed into law by Governor Pataki. Please contact PAN New York State Grassroots Coordinators for more information Linda Herman (upstate) [log in to unmask] or Lupe McCann (downstate) [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn