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What appears
below is the text of a
letter sent by the National
Right to Life Committee
(NRLC) to members of the
U.S. Senate on April 2,
2007, in anticipation of
Senate consideration, on
April 10 and April 11, of
two bills dealing with stem
cell research and human
embryos.
To
read or download a PDF file
of this letter, click
here.
To return to the Human Embryo Index, click
here.To return to the NRLC Home Page, click
here.
RE: S. 5 and
S. 30 -- human embryos and
stem cell research
Dear
Senator:
On April 10, the Senate
will take up S. 5 (star
print), introduced by
Senator Reid, a bill to
mandate federal funding
of the type of stem cell
research that would
require the killing of
human embryos. The
National Right to Life
Committee (NRLC) is
strongly opposed to the
policy imposed by S. 5
(star print), and will
include the roll call(s)
on this legislation in
our scorecard of key
pro-life votes for the
110th Congress.
In
addition to the roll
call on S. 5, the
Senate will vote on
a second
freestanding
proposal, proposed
by Senators Coleman
and Isakson, the
"Hope Offered
through Principled
and Ethical Stem
Cell Research Act"
("HOPE Act") (S.
30). NRLC has no
objection to S. 30.
S. 5
incorporates the same
objectionable provisions
that were found in H.R.
810 during the 109th
Congress, which was
vetoed by President Bush
-- a veto sustained by
the House on July 19,
2006. In the star print
version that Senator
Reid introduced on March
29, he added provisions
to encourage research
into certain alternative
forms of stem cell
research, but the
addition of
such unobjectionable
provisions in no way
lessens our opposition
to the core provisions
of S. 5.
Each
human being begins
as a human embryo,
male or female. The
government should
not fund research
that requires the
killing of living
members of the
species homo
sapiens. S. 5
would require
federal funding of
research projects
using stem cells
taken from human
embryos who are
alive today, and who
would be killed by
the very act of
removing their stem
cells for the
research.
There are
many types of stem cell
research that are
worthwhile and that do
not raise ethical
objections. Stem cells
can be obtained without
killing human embryos,
from umbilical cord
blood and from many
types of "adult"
(non-embryonic) tissue.
Already, humans with at
least
72 different diseases
and conditions have
received therapeutic
benefit from treatment
with such "adult" stem
cells. In contrast,
embryonic stem cells
have not been tested in
humans for any purpose
because of the dangers
demonstrated in animal
studies, including
frequent formation of
tumors.
Those who
favor federal funding of
research that kills
human embryos sometimes
claim that these embryos
"will be discarded
anyway," but this need
not be so. Many human
embryos have been
adopted while they were
still embryos, or simply
donated by their
biological parents to
other infertile couples.
Today they are children
indistinguishable from
any others.
Moreover,
biotech researchers have
made it clear that they
will not be satisfied
with the cell lines that
might be created with
donated human embryos
produced by in vitro
fertilization. They
wish to use the somatic
cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)
cloning technique, used
to create Dolly the
sheep and thousands of
other mammalian clones,
to create countless
human embryos for the
specific purpose of
research. We urge you,
during this new
Congress, to oppose the
creation of human
embryos by cloning -- a
practice which, if
allowed to proceed, will
result in what President
Bush has appropriately
called "human embryo
farms."
Opposition to human
cloning would entail opposing
S. 812, introduced
by Senators Hatch and
Feinstein, since this
bill would institute a
national "clone and
kill" policy -- that is,
it would authorize the
creation of human
embryos by cloning,
while seeking to ensure
the ultimate death of
such embryos by
prohibiting their
implantation. We urge
you to support the true
ban on human cloning,
the Brownback-Landrieu
bill, S. 1036.
Thank you
for your consideration
of NRLC's positions on
these important issues.
Sincerely,
David N.
O'Steen, Ph.D.
NRLC Executive Director
To view or download PDF version,
click here.
To return to the Human Embryo Index, click
here.
To return to the NRLC Home Page, click
here.
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