More on Senate Bill 790

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Senator Brownback's Bill (S. 790) to prevent ALL human cloning may come

to a vote soon. Senator Feinstein's alternate Bill (S. 1758) " Title: A

bill to prohibit human cloning while preserving important areas of

medical research, including stem cell research. " would prevent human

cloning, but allow stem cell research.

Below is an article about Reeve (who rides a motor driven

bicycle 10 miles a day three times a week while using electrical

stimulation to move his legs in order to keep the muscles alive). He is

fighting for stem cell research. It is important to remember that the

only " body parts " we are talking about (in spite of the right wing

rhetoric about body parts) is individual cells, NOT " arms, legs and

organs " .

Take care, Bill Werre

Senators, Scientists, Join with Patient Advocates to Support Promising

Medical

Research, Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (aka

“Therapeutic Cloning”)

Reeve; Senators Kennedy, Specter,

and

Feinstein; Nobel Prize Winner; Activists; and

Parents

Say SCNT Could Mean New Treatments, Cures;

Urge

Senate OK

Washington, DC— Reeve, medical

researchers, and patient advocates, on behalf

of the

Coalition for the Advancement of Medical

Research

(CAMR), joined today with Senators

Kennedy

(D-MA), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Diane Feinstein

(D-CA),

and others to urge the Senate to support an

important

research pathway, somatic cell nuclear

transfer (SCNT),

otherwise known as “therapeutic cloning.”

“SCNT gives hundreds of millions of people

around the world who are afflicted with a wide variety of diseases and

disabilities exactly the kind of chance that we need,” said Reeve,

Chairman of the Reeve Paralysis Foundation, in remarks at a

press conference shortly before he testified at a hearing on SCNT by the

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Senate leaders, patient advocates, and

prominent scientists support SCNT, because it could lead to new

treatments and cures for the more than 100 million Americans facing

now-incurable illnesses such as cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s,

diabetes, ALS, and spinal cord injury. Although SCNT fundamentally is

different from reproductive cloning, drawing support from the National

Academy of Sciences and leading doctors and medical researchers around

the country, it would be banned under legislation that goes to the

Senate floor in a few weeks.

“For me, SCNT is about hope—the hope that

science may find a way to help my two-year old daughter, who cannot

walk, talk, comprehend, or use her hands because she has the incurable

genetic disorder, Rett Syndrome,” said s , mother of

, who spoke at the press conference.

Given the scientific potential in this area,

CAMR strongly opposes any legislative or regulatory action that would

ban research related to SCNT. However, CAMR does support efforts to

prohibit human reproductive cloning while protecting important areas of

medical research, including stem cell research.

The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical

Research (CAMR) is comprised of nationally-recognized patient

organizations, universities, scientific societies, foundations, and

individuals with life-threatening illnesses and disorders advocating for

the advancement of breakthrough research and technologies in

regenerative medicine including stem cell research and somatic cell

nuclear transfer in order to cure disease and alleviate suffering.

CONTACTS

Maggie Goldberg

Director of Communications

Reeve Paralysis Foundation

800/225-0292

mgoldberg@...

Tricia

Reeve Paralysis Foundation

202/833-0355

tbrooks@...

[Guest guest]

Cindy,

Yes I met Senator Spector back about 1999 through some engineering friends. I

was surprised that he was so up on the science of Parkinsons and brain disorders

even then. I have heard him tesify several times since then and he stays up on

the science behind the research. Too bad that others do not try to understand

the science and just introduce Bill after Bill to defeat it without trying to

understand exactly what is going on.

The killer in Brownback's Bill is that it could stop all somatic cell

experimentation depending on how you interpret the law. A strict legal

interpretation would even do away with adult cell cloning as they ARE human

cells. That would do away with several cancer cures. But if you don't

understand it - BAN it. That is how they felt about the earth being flat, blood

transfusions, flying, breaking the speed of sound, going to the moon and many

other things.

Take care, Bill Werre

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Beck wrote:

> Thanks for update-Our PA Senator, Arlen Spector, has spoken very emotionally

> about his close personal friend with debilitating Parkinson's who lives in

> Pittsburgh area. Spector's mission is to fight for a cure. Will take all

> the help we can get. My 44 year old brother was pronounced in remission just

> 2 weeks ago, from a very rare cancer. In Oct. he was treated by a stem cell

> transplant using his own cells. Rugged treatment but it worked. This bill

> is significant for research in so many areas. Thanks for keeping us

> updated. Cindy B.