Patients, Scientists Rally to Oppose Possible U.N. Ban on Cloning; Emails, Letters, Petitions, Calls Flood U.N. Members

12/9/2003

From: Julie Kimbrough of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, 212-585-3501, e-mail: juliekimbrough@earthlink.net

NEW YORK, Dec. 9 -- As the United Nations General Assembly prepares to vote today on a Costa Rican led initiative to ban all forms of human cloning, the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) urges the global body to vote against this campaign.

In letters sent to all General Assembly members this week by CAMR and its members, the Coalition urges support for therapeutic cloning which could lead to cures for some of life's most devastating diseases and conditions. CAMR, comprised of 80 nationally recognized patient groups, universities, and scientific societies, led the charge to support U.S. federal funding of embryonic stem cell research and has led the efforts opposing a U.S. ban on therapeutic cloning.

"CAMR members throughout the country have been flooding the U.N. with petitions, email messages, letters, and phone calls in an attempt to demonstrate why therapeutic cloning research is so critical," said Michael Manganiello, president of CAMR. "We implore member countries of the U.N. to vote against a global ban and to at least allow a postponement of a decision for two years so that further discussion and debate can take place," added Manganiello.

"I've signed onto a key petition to the U.N. which urges fellow scientists to stand-up and fight for the legitimate right of biomedical inquiry, which could lead to new medical therapies," said Irv Weissman, professor of cancer biology and director of the Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, Stanford University. "A U.N. decision to ban this research, if taken seriously by scientists working in this domain, would dash the hope of people worldwide, people of all nationalities, religions, ages, and ethnic origins who are afflicted by life-threatening diseases and conditions," added Dr. Weissman.

"It's ironic that the Administration is pushing countries at the U.N. for a global ban on all cloning when it's not even illegal in our own country," emphasized Manganiello. "We agree that human reproductive cloning is unsafe and unethical. But banning therapeutic cloning along with it is wrong. We're going to work very hard to ensure that scientists and researchers around the world are allowed to freely pursue, within strict ethical guidelines, therapeutic cloning research," he added.

Therapeutic cloning has widespread support in the United States. Leading Members of Congress from both political parties, the National Academy of Sciences, 40 Nobel laureates, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Medical Association have all concluded that SCNT research is critically important to our understanding of diseases and the development of medical cures needed by millions. SCNT could be used to help nearly 100 million Americans suffering from cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries, heart disease, ALS, and other devastating conditions for which treatments must still be found.

Therapeutic cloning is fundamentally different from human reproductive cloning; therapeutic 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. 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 currently incurable medical conditions. SCNT aims to treat or cure patients by creating tailor-made, genetically identical cells that their bodies won't reject. In other words, SCNT could allow patients to be cured using their own DNA.

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. For more information on CAMR, visit the website: http://www.camradvocacy.org.