Please help support LIFE. Your action is needed by May 26!!!
On March 9, President Obama issued an Executive Order overturning the limits President Bush had placed on government funding of destructive embryonic stem cell research. The Bush policy limited funding to embryonic stem cells existing as of August 9, 2001.
On April 23, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published draft guidelines to implement the Obama directive. See the formal notice in the Federal Register at: www.nchla.org/docdisplay.asp?ID=245.
If these guidelines are approved, federal taxpayer funds will support research on human embryonic stem cells derived by killing human embryos created in fertility clinics through in vitro fertilization. Parents will be able to donate their embryonic children for such research when they feel they no longer need them for reproduction. The guidelines currently do not allow federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells derived from cloning or parthenogenesis, or from IVF embryos specially created for research purposes.
Since 1996 the Dickey-Wicker Amendment forbids federal funding of research in which embryos are harmed or destroyed. The guidelines follow the interpretation that federal funds cannot be used to derive stem cells from human embryos but could be used for research on the embryonic stem cells so derived with private funds.
The public has until May 26 to submit comments.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the Catholic bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, called the draft guidelines “a new chapter in divorcing biomedical research from its necessary ethical foundation.” Without unconditional respect for human life, he said, experiments on human subjects become “another way for some human beings to use and mistreat others for their own goals.” The Cardinal called for “increased support for promising and ethically sound stem cell research and treatments that harm no one.” He expressed concern that some in Congress and the Administration want to go beyond the draft guidelines and use embryos specially created for research by in vitro fertilization or cloning. For the Cardinal’s full statement, see: www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-087.shtml.
Calling the guidelines “the first step,” Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Michael Castle (R-DE) intend to move forward with broader legislation to “promote all forms of ethical stem cell research,” which in their view includes cloning and the creation of embryos solely to destroy them.
Through the NCHLA Grassroots Action Center, you can send messages (1) to your two U.S. Senators and Representative opposing the DeGette/Castle legislation, and (2) to the NIH opposing its draft guidelines. See: www.nchla.org/stemcell. For the full NCHLA Action Alert, see: www.nchla.org/actiondisplay.asp?ID=272.
** Information taken from: http://www.nchla.org/legissectiondisplay.asp?ID=710
