Patients, Scientists, Ethicists Form Coalition in Texas to Support Therapeutic Cloning; TX House to Vote Tues. on Bill to Ban Medical Research

5/12/2003

From: Judy Haley, 713-858-0257 or jhaley@houston.rr.com Beckie McCleery, 512-585-3329 or bmccleery@austin.rr.com Julie Kimbrough, 212-585-3501 all for Texans for Advancement of Medical Research

AUSTIN, Texas, May 12 -- As the Texas House prepares to vote tomorrow on a bill which would ban life-saving medical research, an informal coalition of patients, family members, researchers, and ethicists has joined together to fight the legislation designed to ban therapeutic cloning. The new group, Texans for Advancement of Medical Research (TAMR), seeks to educate the public and elected Texas officials about the critical importance of allowing this form of medical research to continue. Patients and family members affected by juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's, cancer, Alzheimer's, spinal cord injuries, Huntington's disease, and other life-threatening diseases and conditions are mobilizing grassroots support to ensure that therapeutic cloning research in Texas move forward.

"As the parent of two children with a life-threatening disease, I am deeply concerned that research which could help cure my son and daughter may become illegal in my own state," said Judy Haley whose 25-year-old son Corbin and 23-year-old daughter Meredith were diagnosed with juvenile diabetes in 1990. "No avenues of research should be slammed shut to my son and daughter and millions of other like them. Nearly every family in America has a loved one affected by some condition that could be helped through advances in medical research," she added. Ms. Haley is also a founder of TAMR.

The bill to be voted on tomorrow in the Texas House, HB 1175, seeks to ban all forms of human cloning, including therapeutic cloning which seeks to create stem cells to treat disease. Representative Rob Eissler (R-15th District) plans to offer a counter amendment that would ban human reproductive cloning but allow therapeutic cloning to continue.

"House Bill 1175 obfuscates the benefits of therapeutic cloning, which is in fact one of the most promising areas of medical research today and is widely supported by the American public, scientific community, National Academy of Sciences, and 40 Nobel Laureates," said Sandra Carson, MD, Professor of OB/GYN at Baylor College of Medicine and President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. "Banning this research in Texas would send a strong signal to the scientific community that our state no longer has a true commitment to pioneering medical research that has made our Texas institutions world-renowned," Dr. Carson added.

"I am deeply concerned that Texas medical institutions will lose some of our top researchers to other states like California which allow research using therapeutic cloning," said Beckie McCleery, one of the founders of TAMR. "The public needs to know what is at stake here and stand-up for medical research that could help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Texans affected by some of life's most horrific diseases and conditions," she added.

Last week, five Nobel Laureates from Texas came forward urging support for therapeutic cloning. In their opinion editorial, published in the Dallas Morning News, they said "bill 1175........could devastate medical research in Texas."

Therapeutic cloning research has national support from both Democrats and Republicans alike including conservatives such as former President Gerald Ford, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and others.

Therapeutic cloning (more accurately called somatic cell nuclear transfer) is about saving and improving lives. It is fundamentally different from human reproductive cloning; it produces stem cells, not babies. In therapeutic cloning, the nucleus of a donor's unfertilized egg is removed and replaced with the nucleus of a patient's own cells, like a skin, heart, or nerve cell. These types of cells are called somatic cells. The goal is to develop stem cells that will not be rejected or destroyed by the patient's immune system. No sperm is used in this procedure. The cells are not transplanted into a womb. The unfertilized egg cells are stored in a petri dish to become a source of stem cells that can be used to treat life-threatening medical conditions.

Therapeutic cloning aims to treat or cure patients by creating tailor-made, genetically identical cells that their bodies won't reject. In other words, somatic cell nuclear transfer could allow patients with diseases and conditions like cancer, diabetes, ALS, Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries and many more to be cured using their own DNA.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For media interviews with Rep. Rob Eissler (R-15th District), please contact his office: 512-463-0797.