SAMPLE LETTER TO EDITOR
REGARDING THE SO CALLED
“STEM CELL RESEARCH” INITIATIVE PETITION
The initiative petition recently filed by the deceptively named
Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, seeks to create a
constitutional “right” in Missouri to clone and kill human
embryos and to deny legal protection to embryos created through in
vitro fertilization. It would further limit the Missouri legislature’s
ability to restrict funding of such research.
TSo-called therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning both clone human
beings. They differ in how that new life is subsequently treated. In
therapeutic cloning, the embryo is destroyed; but in reproductive cloning,
the embryo continues to develop and is born alive. The term
“reproductive cloning” is misleading since all cloning is reproductive;.
“tTherapeutic cloning” is also misleading as there is no therapeutic
advantage either to the cloned embryo or to the research subject.
This initiative implies that a human being is only “reproduced” with a
live birth, an assumption that contradicts science, current Missouri
statutese, and common sense.
The initiative promotes the “promise” of “stem- cell research”
without distinguishing between embryonic stem -cell research, which
destroys human life, and adult stem -cell research, which is non-lethal.
It further ignores the undisputed reality that embryonic stem -cell
research has not resulted in a single successful treatment in human
beings in spite of over 20 years of unfettered research. Adult stem-
cells, on the other hand, have resulted in over 60 successful
applications in human beings including treatment of Parkinson’s
disease, diabetes and spinal cord injury. (sSee www.stemcellresearch.org
for a more complete listing.).
The overwhelming majority of pro-life organizations support the ethical and promising
research using adult stem -cell therapies. This position is based on solid science supported by actual results, not false promises.
The so called “stem -cell research” initiative petition leads people to believe they would be banning human cloning in Missouri. When iIn reality, signing on to the initiative petition or voting for it would place “clone and killing of human embryos” in the Missouri State Constitution. Please do not sign any petition that claims to be banning human cloning without first seeking complete information from trusted pro-life organizations on what you are signing.