Coalition of 70 groups urge Dayton to veto stem cell ban
Friday, April 01, 2011 at 2:39 pm
- 6 Comments
The Stem Cell Action Coalition issued an “urgent appeal” to Gov. Mark Dayton Friday urging him to veto two provisions in Republican budget bills that would ban somatic cell nuclear transfer, a component of embryonic stem cell research. The coalition of more than 70 local, national and international groups said that efforts to curtail stem cell research are being “stampeded” through the Minnesota Legislature “without any scientific basis.” Currently, anti-abortion rights activists have offered a state and federal ban on funding for SCNT in a higher education budget bill and offered a provision in the health and human services budget bill to make SCNT a crime in the state.
“Minnesota is one of the leading states in biomedical research,” said Bernard Siegel, spokesperson for the coalition. “It would be misguided to handcuff Minnesota’s world-class researchers that are using embryonic stem cells to seek potentially lifesaving cures. Without any scientific basis, Minnesota lawmakers are being stampeded into passing laws that will likely have tragic consequences for patients.”
The coalition includes a broad spectrum of nonprofit and research organizations including the Alliance for Aging Research, the American Academy of Neurology, the American Society of Hematology, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation, the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, and the National Hepatitis C Task Force.
“SCNT, a form of deriving embryonic stem cells, has been recognized as a potentially valuable technique for creating human cell lines that exhibit the characteristics of deadly diseases,” Siegel said in a statement. “Study of laboratory models of human disease may significantly advance our understanding of the root cause of human disease, and their use in the discovery and development of drugs that may prove invaluable. To criminalize or place unreasonable restrictions on SCNT is akin to crushing hope to those suffering from multiple sclerosis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, spinal cord injury, stroke, blindness, AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, birth defects and many more medical afflictions for which no cure is known.”
Gov. Dayton’s office hinted on Thursday that he is prepared to veto the budget bills, in part because of the stem cell research restrictions.
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Comment posted April 1, 2011 @ 4:08 pm
Yeah! Get Loud, Get Proud, and Get Smart. Its about time.
Liberals are by most part the passive group. We have been the intellectual group. We are the ones that go to bed at night and say, oh we are safe, who is going to be listening to the lies, and fear tactics. We are the ones that say, oh come on American can’t be stupid enough to vote for HIM AGAIN!
What we are failing to understand when dealing with the religious right and extremists, is that they are by definition dealing with indoctrination. Its their JOB to indoctrinate. Its their job to brainwash and to control, has NO ONE read their history?
Its time that fact wins over fiction.
Its time that the religious right is shown that its them that are making the lifestyle choice, because by definition again Religion is a choice.
We need to evolve and grown and learn.
Comment posted April 2, 2011 @ 11:27 am
Bush&Rove, turned the GOP Faith Base into a political hate base Cult and they traded stem cell research for religious right votes. The GOP platform calls for the destruction of embryonic stem cell research. The Mayo Clinic should consider moving ther stem cell department to China or Calif.
Comment posted April 2, 2011 @ 11:30 am
Marie
You nailed it! We are too passive and that has to change or the Taliban is going to swallow us whole. I applaud this letter and we know Dayton will listen. I just hope to god every other sane person out here is contacting every member of the MN Taliban and screaming to holy hell we will fight them every step of the way. The MN nice crap has to end.
Comment posted April 2, 2011 @ 12:24 pm
Gov. Dayton, please veto this job killing, mean spirited, faith based legislation. Govern by facts not fear.
Praise Jebus, God hates the sick and suffering, Amen.
Comment posted April 2, 2011 @ 1:13 pm
Most people religious or not, when they find out that stem cell research never involves a single pregnancy, can made the distinction between conception and excess IVF embryos that will be thrown away. similarly taking one of my skin cells and putting that into a egg to create stem cells is not generating potential offspring.
Comment posted April 3, 2011 @ 9:07 pm
Watch a silly Grey’s Anatomy or other medical show to see the idea of cell growth. Its very tiny, its tissue only oriented, and then it must have a host to grow. It must be added to a living organ to continue.
It is not a baby floating in jars waiting to be harvested!
Or better yet, Call the U of M and get real data on what they are doing. Do some real fact checking and stop with the supernatural effect of what is a soul and what is not.
one cell is not a baby!
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