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The ASCB Newsletter, Vol 25, No
3 that would remove the
teaching of the theory of evolution from all
textbooks and cur- ricula in Washington
state schools. The bill, S. 6500,
states, “the teaching of the theory
of evolution in the common schools of the state of Wash- ington is repugnant to the principles of the Declara- tion of Independence and thereby unconstitutional and unlawful.” The bill re- quires that all textbooks and curriculum that teach the theory of evolution be removed from Washington schools and replaced with books and curriculum
“that teach the self-evident truth of cre-
ation.” Hochstatter’s bill has been
referred to the Washington Senate Education
Com- mittee for
consideration. Hochstatter represents the
13th Legisla- tive District in central
Washington, includ- ing the counties of
Benton, Grant, Kittitas and Yakima.
He serves on the Education, Labor, Commerce & Financial Institutions and Rules
Committee in the Senate. n n UN Takes up Cloning On February 25, the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on an International Convention against the Reproductive Cloning of Human Beings held its first meeting. The
Committee was established by the United
Nations Gen- eral Assembly in December 2001
at the re- quest of member nations France
and Ger- many. The Committee includes the countries of Japan, Malaysia, China, the United States, Germany, France, Brazil, Sweden, the Re- public of Korea, Croatia, Uganda, the Rus- sian Federation, Israel, the
Vatican, Liechtenstein, Spain,
Portugal, and Costa Rica. The United
Nations Educational, Sci- entific,
and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) and the World Health Organi- zation (WHO) are also members. The Committee, under the chairmanship of Peter Tomka of Slovakia, began its work by
hearing from five experts from around the
world who laid out the scientific and
ethical issues involved in the debate.
Arthur Caplan from the University of
Penn- sylvania introduced
the panel. The views of nations rep- resented on the commission range from those of the
United States and the Vatican, who favor a total ban, to Is- rael and Japan, who favor a more liberal position to enable science to develop the poten- tial health benefits of cloning technology. During her
remarks to the Committee, U.S. delegate
Carolyn L. Willson stated flatly that “since it is necessary to destroy embryos” in
order to produce stem cells, “you’re killing
a growing human being.” The Committee will meet again
in September. It is the goal of
the Committee to develop an international
convention banning human cloning before the
end of 2003. n n Goldstein Meets with Senate on Cloning As the Senate
approaches a vote on legis- lation by
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) that would
criminalize both reproductive cloning
and nuclear transplantation to produce stem cells, efforts to educate Sena-
tors and their staff continue. The
ASCB has joined with other members of the
Coa- lition for the Advancement of Medical
Re- search (CAMR) to meet with as many
Sen- ate offices as possible.
ASCB officer and Public Policy Commit-
tee Vice Chair Larry Goldstein spent Feb-
ruary 14 on Capitol Hill to meet with staff
members from nine Senate offices:
John Rockefeller (D-WV), Susan
Collins (R-ME), Evan Bayh (D-IN) John
Edwards (D-NC), The
bill requires that all textbooks and curriculum
that teach the theory
of evolution
be removed from Washington schools and replaced with books
and curriculum
“that teach
the self-evident truth of creation.”