Yesterday, Senators Specter, Feinstein, Hatch, Kennedy, Harkin, Boxer, Durbin, Miller, Corzine, Mikulski, Clinton, and Thurmond introduced their combined bill S2439, the "Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2002," that would prohibit the use of cloning, also known as SCNT- Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, to produce human beings, while at the same time allowing important biomedical research to continue. This technology holds great promise to produce genetically compatible tissues to cure patients with devastating diseases like diabetes, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's.

Very soon the Senate will debate and vote on one of the competing bills dealing with SCNT. Future development of this technique is threatened by one of the bills under consideration. The Brownback/Landrieu bill (S1899) would make illegal any use of SCNT, even research and the development of therapies. This bill would also prohibit American patients from going overseas to receive any therapies derived from SCNT.

The Senate is very close to being evenly divided on this issue and it is important that you make your opinions known to your legislators. The following is a model letter that you can modify, print on your letterhead, and fax to your Senator.

For your convenience, a list of the Senators' fax numbers is also listed below.

Time is of the essence! Urge your Senator to support S2439 and to vote against S1899. Send a letter today! (Especially if you live in Indiana, Delaware, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, Oregon, Virginia, Idaho, or Tennessee)

THE MODEL LETTER FOLLOWS

Please replace bold phrases with your own information.

The Honorable (my Senator's name here)
Washington, DC 20015

May 2, 2002

Dear Senator (Fill in appropriate name),

Within the next few weeks the Senate will debate and vote on cloning, a technology that holds much promise as a way to develop therapies for seriously ill or disabled patients and as a powerful tool for scientific research. As a physician (or ob/gyn, reproductive endocrinologist, nurse, mental health provider, embryologist, concerned layman, etc.) and member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine practicing (or working) in (City, State) I encourage you to support S2439, the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2002 to preserve the rights of doctors and scientists to use the technique of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) for research and to develop treatments for devastating conditions and diseases. I ask that you vote against the opposing bill, S1899, sponsored by Senators Brownback and Landrieu, which would impose heavy civil and criminal penalties on researchers doing this work in the US and could result in may of our brightest scientists relocating to more research-friendly shores.

A prohibition on reproductive cloning, such as the one in S2439, will ensure that SCNT is not used to produce human children. Cloning for reproduction has been demonstrated to be both extremely inefficient and dangerous in animals, especially in larger mammals. The National Academy of Sciences concluded, after their investigation, that it definitely ought not be attempted in humans. I agree with this, as do the vast majority of responsible medical professionals.

A cloned embryo is a replication of an existing genome that has little potential to develop beyond the blastocyst stage, which yields stem cells. But these stem cells have the potential to lead to treatments for terrible conditions and to teach us a great deal about genetic reprogramming. Ideally, we would learn how reprogramming takes place within an egg and would ultimately be able to replicate that process without using eggs. SCNT may also show us how to more effectively influence the development of adult stem cells to develop therapies.

I also urge you to vote against the Brownback/Landrieu bill, S1899. Besides making illegal this essential research, the bill contains a very troubling importation ban. The likely result of outlawing the importation of cells and products resulting from SCNT is that patients who are well-off enough to travel to receive life-saving SCNT-derived treatments would be arrested, imprisoned, and fined upon their return to the United States. Other patients, lacking the means to travel, would have no access whatsoever to those treatments.

We must not allow our fears of reproductive cloning to cut off the best hope for effective cures for the millions of patients suffering Alzheimer's, diabetes, Parkinson's, spinal cord injury and other devastating diseases. I appreciate your thoughtful consideration urge you to support the use of SCNT for research and therapy by voting for S2439.

Sincerely,

Your Name Here

(AK) Frank Murkowski  Fax: 202-224-5301
(AK) Ted Stevens  Fax: 202-224-2354
(AL) Jeff Sessions  Fax: 202-224-3149
(AL) Richard Shelby  Fax: 202-228-1395
(AR) Blanche Lincoln  Fax: 202-228-1371
(AR) Tim Hutchinson  Fax: 202-228-3973
(AZ) John McCain  Fax: 202-228-2862
(AZ) Jon Kyl  Fax: 202-224-2207
(CA) Barbara Boxer  Fax: 415-956-6701
(CA) Dianne Feinstein  Fax: 202-224-3954
(CO) Ben Nighthorse  Fax: 202-224-1933
(CO) Wayne Allard  Fax: 202-224-6471
(CT) Christopher Dodd  Fax: 202-224-1083
(CT) Joseph Lieberman  Fax: 202-224-9750
(DE) Joseph Biden, Jr.  Fax: 202-224-0139
(DE) Thomas Carper  Fax: 202-224-2190
(FL) Bill Nelsons  Fax: 202-228-2183
(FL) Bob Graham  Fax: 202-224-2237
(GA) Max Cleland  Fax: 202-224-0072
(GA) Zell Miller  Fax: 202-228-2090
(HI) Daniel Akaka  Fax: 202-224-2126
(HI) Daniel Inouye  Fax: 202-224-6747
(IA) Charles Grassley  Fax: 202-224-6020
(IA) Tom Harkin  Fax: 202-224-9369
(ID) Larry Craig  Fax: 202-224-1067
(ID) Michael Crapo  Fax: 202-224-1375
(IL) Peter Fitzgerald  Fax: 202-228-1372
(IL) Richard Durbin  Fax: 202-224-0400
(IN) Evan Bayh  Fax: 202-224-3687
(IN) richard Lugar  Fax: 202-228-0360
(KS) Pat Roberts  Fax: 202-224-3514
(KS) Sam Brownback  Fax: 202-224-1265
(KY) Jim Bunning  Fax: 202-224-1373
(KY) Mitch McConnell  Fax: 202-224-2499
(LA) John Breaux  Fax: 202-224-2577
(LA) Mary Landrieu  Fax: 202-224-9735
(MA) Edward Kennedy  Fax: 202-224-2417
(MA) John Kerry  Fax: 202-224-8525
(MD) Barbara Mikulski  Fax: 202-224-8858
(MD) Paul Sarbanes  Fax: 202-224-1651
(ME) Olympia Snowe  Fax: 202-224-1946
(ME) Susan Collins  Fax: 202-224-2693
(MI) Carl Levin  Fax: 202-224-1388
(MI) Debbie Stabenow  Fax: 202-228-0325
(MN) Mark Dayton  Fax: 202-224-2186
(MN) Paul Wellstone  Fax: 202-224-8438
(MO) Christopher Bond  Fax: 202-224-8149
(MO) Jean Carnahan  Fax: 202-224-1518
(MS) Thad Cochran  Fax: 202-224-9450
(MS) Trent Lott  Fax: 202-224-2262
(MT) Conrad Burns  Fax: 202-224-8594
(MT) Max Baucus  Fax: 202-224-3687
(NC) Jesse Helms  Fax: 202-228-1339
(NC) John Edwards  Fax: 202-224-1374
(ND) Byron Dorgan  Fax: 202-224-1193
(ND) Kent Conrad  Fax: 202-224-7776
(NE) Ben Nelson  Fax: 202-228-0012
(NE) Chuck Hagel  Fax: 202-224-5213
(NH) Judd Gregg  Fax: 202-224-4952
(NH) Robert Smith  Fax: 202-224-1353
(NJ) Jon Corzine  Fax: 202-224-2197
(NJ) Robert Torricelli  Fax: 202-224-8567
(NM) Jeff Bingaman  Fax: 202-224-2852
(NM) Pete Domenici  Fax: 202-224-0900
(NV) Harry Reid  Fax: 202-224-7327
(NV) John Ensign  Fax: 202-224-2193
(NY) Charles Schumer  Fax: (202-228-3027
(NY) Hillary Rodham Clinton  Fax: 202-224-0282
(OH) George Voinovich  Fax: 202-228-1382
(OH) Mike DeWine  Fax: 202-224-6519
(OK) Don Nickles  Fax: 202-224-6008
(OK) James Inhofe  Fax: 202-228-0380
(OR) Gordon Smith  Fax: 202-228-3997
(OR) Ron Wyden  Fax: 202-228-2717
(PA) Arlen Specter  Fax: 202-228-1229
(PA) Rick Santorum  Fax: 202-228-0604
(RI) Jack Reed  Fax: 202-224-4680
(RI) Lincoln Chafee  Fax: 202-224-2853
(SC) Ernest Hollings  Fax: 202-224-4293
(SC) Strom Thurmond   Fax: 202-224-1300
(SD) Thomas Daschle  Fax: 202-224-7895
(SD) Tim Johnson  Fax: 202-228-5765
(TN) Bill Frist  Fax: 202-228-1264
(TN) Fred Thompson  Fax: 202-228-3679
(TX) Kay Bailey Hutchison  Fax: 202-224-0776
(TX) Phill Gramm  Fax: 202-228-2856
(UT) Orrin Hatch  Fax: 202-224-6331
(UT) Robert Bennett  Fax: 202-224-1168
(VA) George Allen  Fax: 202-224-5432
(VA) John Warner  Fax: 202-224-6295
(VT) James Jeffords  Fax: 202-228-0766
(VT) Patrick Leahy  Fax: 202-224-3479
(WA) Maria Cantwell  Fax: 202-224-0514
(WA) Patty Murray  Fax: 202-224-0238
(WI) Herbert Kohl  Fax: 202-224-9787
(WI) Russ Feingold  Fax: 202-224-2725
(WV) John Rockefeller  Fax: 202-224-7655
(WV) Robert Byrd  Fax: 202-224-0002
(WY) Craig Thomas  Fax: 202-224-1724
(WY) Michael Enzi  Fax: 202-224-0359