Illinois Legislature Close to Approving Embryonic Stem Cell Research
by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
April 20, 2004
<IMG SRC="http://www.lifenews.com/stemcell3.jpg" WIDTH="111" HEIGHT="74" BORDER="0" DATASIZE="2433">Springfield, IL (LifeNews.com) -- Despite the continued failure of
researchers to produce useful embryonic stem cells or cure patients with them, the
Illinois legislature is coming close to approving legislation to encourage the
destructive research in their state.
The Stem Cell Research Act, HB 3589, cleared the Senate's Rules Committee
Thursday, and advances to a third reading on Tuesday. The state house narrowly
passed the legislation in March 2003 by a 60-56 vote.
The Illinois legislation would permit the gathering of human embryos and
fetal tissue from any source -- including abortions, leftover embryos from
fertilization treatments, and those created by "somatic nuclear transplantation," the
procedure by which organisms, such as Dolly the sheep, are cloned. The bill
currently does not ban human cloning for reproductive purposes, although it
explicitly allows for cloning for so-called "therapeutic" purposes.
"Human cloning and embryonic stem cell research have failed to produce any
usable medical advances so far," said William Beckman, executive director of the
Illinois Right to Life Committee. "Private investment capital has dried up
for these fruitless pursuits.
"Why encourage more effort pursuing a dead end when a more promising
alternative exists," asked Beckman, referring to adult stem cell sources, such as
umbilical cord blood, which have already produced successful treatments.
In March, Harvard University researches announced the creation of new
embryonic stem cell lines, which, like their predecessors from the National Institute
of Health, appear to be unusable as they exhibit accelerated growth,
accumulate chromosomal abnormalities that could lead to cancer.
However, adult stem cells have been scientifically proven to repair heart
tissue, put leukemia into remission, cure sickle cell anemia, and limit the
effects of other diseases.
"Destroying human life is never necessary to cure a disease or illness," says
Tony Perkins president of the Family Research Council. "And our taxpayer
dollars should never be used to destroy human embryos."
"Let researchers who want to continue pursuing this unethical dead end move
to New Jersey or California," Beckman added. "The legislatures of those states
were already duped into support of human cloning and embryonic stem cell
research by special interests pushing the dubious benefits of so-called therapeutic
cloning. Such research causes the death of human embryos to obtain their stem
cells.
"Illinois can do much better than to follow the lead of New Jersey and
California. To achieve prominent medical advances, research using adult and
umbilical cord blood stem cells should be encouraged," concluded Beckman.
Currently New Jersey has the most extreme pro-cloning legislation in effect,
allowing for the cloning, implantation, and destruction of human life from the
embryonic through the newborn stages of prenatal development.
Action Alert: Please contact your Senator and ask him or her to vote NO on HB
3589, the Stem Cell Research Bill. To find your state legislators, go to:
<A HREF="http://www.elections.state.il.us/dls/pages/DLSAddresscrit.as">http://www.elections.state.il.us/dls/pages/DLSAddresscrit.as</A>p. You may also
call the Capital switchboard in Springfield (217-782-2000) and ask for your
senator's office.
Related web sites:
Illinois Right to Life - <A HREF="http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org/">http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org/</A>
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