J Young a =E9crit :
http://catholicleague.org/06press_releases/quarter%204/061018_Missouri.htm
On November 7, voters in Missouri will be asked to amend their state
constitution to protect all forms of stem cell research that are legal un=
der
federal law. What has triggered a big debate is whether human cloning wou=
ld
be allowed or prohibited under this measure.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed this issue today:
Here's something that might interest you:
Pope endorses adult stem-cell research
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI endorsed stem-cell research and therapy
utilizing stem cells harvested from adults and umbilical-cord blood.
He also called for researchers and doctors to work more closely
together in applying the latest research.
"The possibilities opened up by this new chapter in research are in
themselves fascinating" because adult stem-cell studies have pointed to
actual and potential cures of degenerative diseases that would
otherwise lead to disabilities or death, the pope said at an audience
for participants attending a Vatican-sponsored congress on stem-cell
therapy.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0605317.htm
Do you oppose Vatican's will?
"When whites were given a literacy test as a requisite for voting in parts
of the South 50 years ago, they were asked such questions as, 'Who was the
first president of the U.S.?' By contrast, blacks were asked to cite
verbatim the Preamble to the Constitution. Now we have the same kind of v=
ile
trickery being played in the 21st century, only this time the victims are
the voters in Missouri: stealth and wealth have corrupted the democratic
process.
"The 100-word initiative is not merely a summary of a 2,000 word
statement-it collapses the truth along with the verbiage. The initiative
says that 'No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.' But wh=
en
the fine print is read, it actually allows for therapeutic cloning.
"What therapeutic cloning does is to create a human embryo for the purpose
of extracting stem cells, and in doing so it kills the embryo. However, in
Missouri the conversation has not been about therapeutic cloning-it has b=
een
about 'somatic cell nuclear transfer' (that's the Orwellian euphemism
preferred by the Stowers Institute, the financial source of almost all the
$29 million spent on this stealth campaign). As bioethicist Wesley J. Smi=
th
has written, 'biologically, the act of human cloning is asexual reproduct=
ion
performed via somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT. This act of cloning
culminates in the creation of a new human embryo.'
"Researcher William L. Saunders has said that SCNT, or what he calls
'experimental cloning,' violates the Nuremberg Code. He is correct: Artic=
le
5 bars experiments 'where there is an a priori reason to believe that dea=
th
or disabling injury will occur..' Because SCNT deliberately creates life =
for
the purpose of destroying and harvesting it, it violates the Nuremberg Co=
de.
Hopefully, Missourians will not be fooled."
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J Y=F6ung
youngopinions@aol.com
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