A Moratorium on Therapeutic Cloning Equals Ban on Life-Saving Medical Research

Patient Groups Voice Their Opposition

"A moratorium on therapeutic cloning is a thinly veiled attempt at banning important research outright. Supporters of a moratorium know how difficult it is to lift one -- that is why they are proposing it," said Michael Manganiello, President of CAMR. "A moratorium would mean that important medical breakthroughs are put on hold. People suffering from life-threatening diseases and conditions are told they will just have to wait for their cures."

"A moratorium sends a strong signal to the scientific community that potential medical breakthroughs from somatic cell nuclear transfer should not be pursued. Further, it stigmatizes this research as morally suspect. Researchers will be unwilling to pursue this important area of science because of the stigma as well as the uncertainty about whether it will ever become an accepted form of research," said Larry Goldstein, PhD., Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at UCSD.

"Those Senators considering a multi-year moratorium need only look at my daughter, who was recently diagnosed with Rett Syndrome, to understand why people can't afford to wait. Shutting down research today and restarting it when a moratorium is lifted will hold back science much longer than the length of the ban, meanwhile lives of real people, like my daughter, hang in the balance," said Elizabeth Howard, mother of Allison.

"The rationale for a moratorium is to further study the potential of this research, but the National Academy of Sciences has already done that and issued a recent report validating therapeutic cloning. If U.S. scientists are not allowed to pursue promising research, they will only go outside the U.S. and American patients won't have first access to new drugs and treatments they may develop," added Manganiello.

The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR), is comprised of nationally-recognized patient organizations, universities, scientific societies, foundations, and individuals with life-threatening illnesses and disorders, advocating for the advancement of breakthrough research and technologies in regenerative medicine - including stem cell research and somatic cell nuclear transfer - in order to cure disease and alleviate suffering. For more information on CAMR, visit the website: www.camradvocacy.org.