Letter Opposing Cloning
Moratorium
June
12, 2002
The Honorable Thomas A. Daschle
Majority Leader
United States Senate
509 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Daschle:
The Association of American Medical Colleges strongly opposes
legislative efforts to impose a prohibition or "moratorium"
on somatic cell nuclear transfer research, also know as nuclear
transplantation or therapeutic cloning. Either action would
mean that promising advances in medical understanding, and
even medical breakthroughs, would be put on hold indefinitely.
Nuclear transplantation will provide invaluable knowledge
about cell growth and specialization, which in turn could
provide new understanding of the mechanisms that result in
the abnormal cells responsible for cancers and certain birth
defects. Improved understanding of cell specialization may
also provide answers to how cells are regulated and how they
age, leading to new approaches to the treatment or cure of
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and other incapacitating
degenerative diseases of the brain and spinal cord. The technology
also promises to further our understanding about how to activate
certain genes selectively to permit the creation of customized
cells for transplantation or grafting. Such cells would be
genetically identical to the cells of the donor and could
therefore be transplanted into that donor without fear of
immune rejection, the major biological barrier to organ and
tissue transplantation at this time.
The current opportunities in medical research are unparalleled
in our nation's history, and among the brightest of these
is the further study and application of adult and embryonic
stem cell technology. The production of stem cells by nuclear
transplantation may yet prove the most powerful and widely
beneficial of all. However, we will never see the fulfillment
of any of this promise if we choose to take the perilous and
unprecedented path of banning through legislation research
on nuclear transplantation to produce stem cells.
A moratorium is a thinly veiled attempt at banning this important
research outright. Proponents of a moratorium know how difficult
it is to lift a legislative moratorium - which is why they
are proposing it. We respectfully ask you to oppose both a
blanket prohibition and a moratorium on nuclear transfer research.
These actions would seriously curtail continued advances in
medical research and dash the hopes of countless patients
who have no current prospect for cure.
Sincerely,
Jordan J. Cohen, M.D.
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