January 18, 2002 - Washington, DC - The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR), the leading patient advocacy group supporting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, issued the following statement today in response to the National Academy of Sciences paper entitled Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning.

"We support recommendations outlined in the National Academy of Sciences paper on human cloning. We agree that human reproductive cloning should not now be practiced but that biomedical research using somatic cell nuclear transfer (also called therapeutic cloning) should be allowed to move forward," said Michael Manganiello, President of CAMR.

"The Academy's recommendations could not have come at a better time as the President's Council on Bioethics has just begun to consider these very critical medical research issues. We hope that the Council will consider these recommendations, made by a distinguished group of scholars and medical experts, when making their own to the President and the public about cloning and embryonic stem cell research."

"We feel strongly that the American public would support biomedical research using somatic cell nuclear transfer (or therapeutic cloning) to produce life-saving embryonic stem cells if they are given a chance to fully understand the difference from reproductive cloning, which we also do not support."

The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research is comprised of universities, scientific and academic societies, patients' organizations, and other entities that are devoted to supporting stem cell research.