An MAHC Update on Cloning and Stem Cell Reseach

From Missourians Against Human Cloning:

...on Saturday, November 17 the UK based Telegraph announced the scientist who cloned Dolly the Sheep was abandoning human cloning research in favor of more promising stem cell research.

This important announcement by Ian Wilmut, one of the most respected pioneers in cloning research, was quickly followed by even more exciting news. On Tuesday, November 20 two teams of researchers, one in Japan and one in Wisconsin, reported success in "reprogramming" ordinary skin cells to take on the pluripotent capabilities of embryonic stem cells. Experts and reporters around the world grappled with the right words to explain such a significant breakthroughs....

This staggering breakthrough was actually reported quite accurately by many media sources. However, the two largest newspapers in Missouri, the Kansas City Star and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch scrambled to minimize the news and reiterate the need to continue human cloning research. Predictably biased editorials appeared over the weekend in both papers. I find it fascinating that the same journalists who have hailed every fantastic claim made by the cloning proponents are now urging caution regarding the prospects of direct reprogramming. And while the Post-Dispatch still used the ridiculously inaccurate term "very early fertilized eggs", the KC Star was forced to finally use the term embryonic stem cell research. It must have nearly choked them.

These lies, decptions and falsehoods should be expected. The public and the citizens of Missouri were deceived by lies and deceptions propagated by the supporters and promoters of Amendment 2. News like this should serve as a death knell to public funding of human cloning and the killing and destruction of innocent human life.

We have much to be thankful for with this exciting scientific breakthrough but our work is far from done. Did the so-called Coalition for Lifesaving Cures herald this newest development which could provide real cures and therapies for those suffering? Nope. In fact, they are going to need our tax dollars now more than ever to pursue their cloning agenda as private research funds will target the more promising reprogramming technology.

This has been one of my longer emails but the ramifications of this breakthrough are so critical. I encourage you to also read the articles posted on our web site for more information. Armed with the facts, I urge you to write letters, hundreds of letters to the editors of every paper in the state (especially the STL Post-Dispatch and the KC Star). I simply cannot think of a better time to show the voters of Missouri why it is imperative to close the cloning loopholes in our constitution. We don't want human cloning, we don't need human cloning and we really don't want to pay for it!

Jaci Winship
Executive Director