X-Message-Number: 18606 From: Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 15:10:13 EST Subject: "Don't ban therapeutic cloning" letter, PLUS a small rant! --part1_11e.c248648.29a55ca5_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear fellow cryoneters: Bill Falloon and Saul Kent are doing some great things for cryonics as you read this. They are, of course, the CEO's of Life Extension Foundation, many of you may already be members. (At 75 bucks a year, includes TREMENDOUS monthly magazine and discounts on food supplements/ anti-aging compounds, and vitamins, a real bargain.) Go to lef.org for their great website. Anyway, they have made it very easy to write your senator re: the current cloning ban law currently in the Senate. I have reproduced the letter which I wrote to about 25 senators below. It is mostly from the LEF site. Except the ending, where I get a little nasty and emotional, designed as a stronger close than the professional and "understated" sample letter from LEF. I may be professional. But few who read this list regularly would accuse me of being "understated"! LOL! Friends, the long awaited WAR has begun! I am referring to the oft discussed tension between the forces of science, knowledge, technology, and rationality Vs the forces of mythology, renouncement, "God did not intend for man to do this," and the attitude that "I am not comfortable with the possible ramifications of this, so I am going to lobby to criminalize your even considering or researching possibilities." The religious right has massive funding, television stations, and the tremendous blind faith of the religiously deluded. This is a society where it is considered a positive if you believe something just BECAUSE there is NO evidence of it! This flawed but surprising effective epistemology has engendered societies ruled by religious zealots throughout most of recorded history. But back to the task at hand. YOUR task. If you value the possibility of therapeutic cloning research improving YOUR life in the next 3 or 5 or 10 years. Instead of the 15 or 20 or more which it could take if we allow the U. S. government to CRIMINALIZE RESEARCH! Please write your senator about this. Reprint the letter below, or reword it. Best and easiest, go to lef.org and utilize their already hypertexed email addresses for senators. Here is letter. The good parts are suggested or copied verbatim from LEF. The ending diatribe is mine. Dear Senator, I urge you to vote AGAINST S. 790, the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001, sponsored by Kansas Republican Sam Brownback. Passage of this bill would make it a criminal offense to conduct research on the development of new therapies using stem cells derived from very early-stage cloned embryos. It would greatly slow the development of therapeutic cloning, the most promising new technology in medicine. Therapeutic cloning involves the generation of young, immunologically-identical cells, tissues, and organs for transplant. It has the potential to cure killers such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, arthritis, and Parkinson's disease. It also could be instrumental in the development of therapies to reverse the infirmities and ravages of aging, leading to longer, healthier lives for millions of Americans. Most of the top scientists in the United States SUPPORT THERAPEUTIC CLONING RESEARCH. These include Nobel laureates such as Dr. David Baltimore and Dr. Harold Varmus and organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences. (NAS), the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the Federation of American Societies For Experimental Biology (FASEB.) It is IMPERATIVE that you and your colleges understand the ENORMOUS potential of THERAPEUTIC cloning research. Scientists who are conducting this research, such as Dr. Michael West at Advanced Cell Technologies, are HEROES. This legislation could make these researchers into criminals. This is wrong. There is a distinction between Therapeutic cloning and Reproductive cloning. Even if it IS necessary to place a temporary moratorium on human REPRODUCTIVE cloning, please don't criminalize THERAPEUTIC cloning research. I would appreciate your response to this letter. Sincerely Yours, Rudi Hoffman Member Financial Planner's Association, Certified Planner Member ALCOR Life Extension Foundation Member Libertarian Party Member National Rifle Association Member Extropy Foundation Board Member Port Orange Chamber of Commerce Board Member Daytona Salvation Army Rudi Hoffman Member Financial Planner's Association, Certified Planner Member ALCOR Life Extension Foundation Member Libertarian Party Member National Rifle Association Member Extropy Foundation Board Member Port Orange Chamber of Commerce Board Member Daytona Salvation Army --part1_11e.c248648.29a55ca5_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18606