The New York State Right to Life Committee, Inc.                  Tel:  518-434-1293

41 State Street, Suite M-100                                                 Fax: 518-426-1200

Albany, New York 12207

 Stem Cell Research Key Points

1.  NYSRTL opposes any and all state authorization and/or taxpayer funding of human embryo-destructive research or human cloning.

2.  Embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) involves killing a living member of the human family to harvest his or her parts.   Research cloning (so-called “therapeutic cloning”) involves the creation of a human being for lethal experimentation.

3.  Funding embryo-destructive research is irresponsible, as well as immoral.  With very limited research dollars available, responsible stewardship demands that the most promising research receives support.  Adult stem cell research is helping suffering people now.  There are 72 treatments in use, more in trial, and published advances nearly weekly.  Embryo-destructive research has not resulted in one successful therapy, although both the embryonic and adult stem cell fields have been in existence the same amount of time.

4.  On January 7, 2007, researchers from Wake Forest and Harvard universities announced a stunning breakthrough:  amniotic fluid stem cells – collected without harming human life.  Amniotic fluid stem cells exhibit the versatility desired of embryonic stem cells, without the accompanying problems of doing ESCR.  Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientist at the stem cell company Advanced Cell Technology, called the breakthrough “a giant step forward for stem cell research.”  Amniotic fluid stem cells can be found in the placenta and donated at birth.

5.  Human cloning is necessary to carry out the ESCR agenda.  Supporting ESCR “only” for the mythical and so-called “leftover embryos” opens the door to the entire ESCR agenda by crossing the most critical line in the debate:  whether it is okay to kill human life for research.  The number of embryos available for government funding, if frozen embryos were targeted for destruction, would be so small as to only fuel the cry for more human embryos.  Cloning is the only way to produce the mass numbers needed for future marketing plans.

6.  Human cloning will lead to a new class of human beings treated as marketable property.  Patenting cloned human embryos is already anticipated and boldly proclaimed by biotech companies and universities as a goal after the “basic research” is performed.  The new Governor and others attempt to spin excitement for future ESCR marketing with words like the “innovation economy,” “capital investment,” and “collaboration with the business sector” while not spelling out what that means:  If New York “invests” in ESCR, instead of the stem cell donors and medical treatments, the future will hold human “products” marketed for a profit.  Funding ESCR on the basis of “capital investment” does not make it moral; if possible, it makes it more reprehensible.

7.  Human cloning exploits women:  they must donate eggs for the research.  Each woman must have daily injections of super-ovulating drugs to increase egg production before the surgery, where up to 15-18 eggs can be harvested.  The process places a woman at higher risk for ovarian cancer, infertility, and other hazards.  Women in need of cash would be especially vulnerable.

8.  The United Nations General Assembly declared that all human cloning should be banned, including for research, because it is “incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life” (March, 2005).  The U.N. is not known as a bastion of pro-life philosophy – yet when presented with the facts, the U.N. acted to ban human cloning.  France, Australia, Canada and Germany have already acted to ban all human cloning.  The United States lags behind.

 9.  Subjecting human beings to lethal research violates, among other ethical codes, the Hippocratic Oath, the Belmont Commission, and the Nuremberg Code.  Many codes of ethics have arisen in response to egregious wrongs done to fellow human beings.  History has shown when strict codes of ethics are violated and bright moral lines are crossed, society suffers at the hands of the powerful who sell their own agenda through rhetoric and promises.

10.  ESCR advocates often paint opponents of ESCR as uncompassionate toward those with diseases and disabilities.  But by endorsing the already successful therapies derived from adult stem cells, ESCR opponents promote adult stem cell cures that will mitigate suffering sooner, with no harm to anyone in the process.  In contrast, the pro-embryo-destruction people advocate for a failing experiment with a high toll in human lives, the booty being research dollars to fund politically correct fantasies.

11.  ESCR proponents react to breakthroughs, such as that of amniotic stem cells, with a plea to not dump the failing ESCR research.  They say we still need embryonic stem cells to avoid a "one-size-fits-all" approach to research.  Dr. George Daley of Harvard sums it up, saying embryonic stem cells "allow scientists to address a host of other interesting questions in early human development" [emphasis added].  This amounts to funding lethal human research, just in order to know, so big bio can later pick up on any findings it deems promising to make money.

12.  Scare tactics about economic doom and an ensuing “brain drain” if our state does not fund ESCR are disingenuous.  Because big biotech companies and universities desire carte blanche and government investment for some of their experiments on human beings does not mean the state should grant their request.  New York’s independent colleges and universities had job growth of 38% from 1995-2005, without the authorization to dissect humanity.  Universities, and particularly private ones, are a booming part of the NYS economy.

13.  ESCR and human cloning experiments are – unfortunately – already proceeding in New York with private funding.  To provide such experimentation cover in the code of law and invest in it with the taxpayers’ money – especially in a year when many in the state are calling for spending and tax cuts – is indefensible.  Because one is able to, does not mean one should, and certainly does not mean all taxpayers should fund their Frankenstein projects.

NYSRTL Committee, Inc., 41 State St., Suite M-100, Albany, NY 12207; www.nysrighttolife.org