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Leading Canadian Bio-ethicists Unite to urge Parliament: Regulate - Don't Ban Therapeutic Cloning Toronto/February 24,2003 - Several of Canada's top bio-ethicists, along with a research funding organization, have come together to urge Canada's Parliament to regulate "therapeutic" cloning, but not to prohibit it. Bill C-13, an Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction, in the final debate stages in the House of Commons, calls for a ban on human somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), commonly known as therapeutic cloning. The group of leading research academics and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) are making a final plea to Parliamentarians to reconsider this decision. "We feel that Parliamentarians are about to pass an unwarranted statutory criminal ban on a potentially useful procedure," says Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, University of Alberta. Professor Caulfield, along with Abdallah Daar, Bartha Knoppers, Peter A. Singer, David Castle and Ron Forbes have submitted an opinion editorial for publication in the Hill Times, Canada's parliamentary weekly newspaper. SCNT involves removing the nucleus of an unfertilized egg cell, replacing it with the material from the nucleus of a "somatic cell" (a skin, heart, or nerve cell, for example), and stimulating this cell to begin dividing. Once the cell begins dividing, stem cells can be extracted 5-6 days later and used for research. The researchers note that this technology offers a strong potential for medical and scientific benefits. They also point that out that many jurisdictions, including, recently, the State of California, made a decision to regulate instead of prohibit therapeutic cloning because of its great potential. "Policy makers must be careful not to let outrageous, unsubstantiated claims drive national policy development", said Peter A. Singer, Professor of Medicine and Director, University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics. Dr. Singer was referring to recent publicity claiming that human beings have been cloned. Poll after poll shows that a majority of Canadians support research cloning. For example, a 2002 IPSOS-REID poll found that 61% or Canadians approve of therapeutic cloning. "We would be better served to consider regulations that allows for promising research to proceed, so that we won't close the door to potential medical advances and potential life-saving cures for many serious diseases in our society, such as juvenile (type 1) diabetes" says Ron Forbes, President and CEO, JDRF. To support therapeutic cloning, visit http:// www.therapeuticcloning.ca For more information, contact: Timothy Caulfield 780-492-8358 Peter A. Singer 416-978-4756 Elaine Flis Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (905) 944-8700 ext. 268 http://www.jdfc.ca/government/opi.html * * * Murray Charters <[log in to unmask]> Parkinson's Resourses on the WWWeb http://www.geocities.com/murraycharters/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn