Experts in Science, Medicine, Law and Ethics

[Rosalinda]

Nov.1, over two dozen experts in science, medicine, law and ethics released an open letter to news media and the people of Missouri on the state's proposed ballot initiative known as Amendment 2. They conclude that "the people of Missouri should know what they are actually voting on. Amendment 2 creates a constitutional right for researchers to engage in human cloning. Efforts to deny this are misleading and deceptive."
The signers include experts in embryology, microbiology and maternal/fetal medicine, as well as past and present members of the President's Council on Bioethics and several founding members of Do No Harm: the Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics.

Read the Open Letter at:

http://www.stemcellresearch.org/press/2006-11-01_MO.htm

[astegallrnc]

Thank you Rosalinda! I shared this link on another thread is the Moral Theology forum.

[Rosalinda]

Yes, it is good news that the professionals are boldly speaking out to help the citizens of Missouri realize the duplicity of Ammendment 2. It is important to notice they are not taking sides either. Which is why this open letter while very important states only what all the co-signers can agree on.

For Catholics it does not go far enough in providing a definition of cloning to encompass all the cloning methods which have been developed since 1978 in the field of assisted reproductive technology otherwise known as I.V.F. Their collective silence speaks volumes. The President's Council for Bioethics obviously didn't want to implicate a multi-billion dollar a year industry in the cloning imbroglio. My dismay is that the reader is left with the impression that SCNT [somatic cell nuclear transfer] is the only method of cloning. If it were only true.

The definition of human cloning in this bill applies only to one human cloning technique, i.e., SCNT. It does not refer to human cloning techniques using nuclear transfer with germ line cells; nor does it refer to human cloning by means of blastomere separation, blastocyst splitting, pronuclei transfer or any other human cloning techniques. Therefore, this bill does not ban any of these other human cloning techniques.

http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/ir...consinban.html