Two National Academy
of Sciences expert committees, as well as noted national and
international organizations, have evaluated current scientific and
medical information and have concluded that cloning a human being
using the method of nuclear transplantation cannot be achieved
safely. Such attempts in other mammals often have catastrophic
outcomes. Furthermore, virtually nothing is known about the
potential safety of such procedures in humans. Consequently, there
is widespread and strong agreement that an attempt to clone a human
being would constitute unwarranted experimentation on human subjects
and should be prohibited by legislation that imposes criminal and
civil penalties on those who would implant the product of nuclear
transplantation into a woman's uterus.
Unfortunately, some legislation, such as that introduced by
Senator Brownback (R-KS) would foreclose the legitimate use of
nuclear transplantation technology for research and therapeutic
purposes. This would impede progress against some of the most
debilitating diseases known to man. For example, it may be possible
to use nuclear transplantation technology to produce
patient-specific embryonic stem cells that could overcome the
rejection normally associated with tissue and organ transplantation.
Nuclear transplantation technology might also permit the creation of
embryonic stem cells with defined genetic constitution, permitting a
new and powerful approach to understanding how inherited
predispositions lead to a variety of cancers and neurological
diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.
A critical element of the Brownback bill would prevent the
importation into the United States of medical treatments developed
in other parts of the world using nuclear transplantation. It seems
unbelievable that the United States Senate would deny advanced
medical treatment to hundreds of millions of suffering Americans
because of an aversion to a technology that was used in its
development.
By declaring scientifically valuable biomedical research illegal,
Senator Brownback's legislation, if it becomes law, would have a
chilling effect on all scientific research in the United States.
Such legal restrictions on scientific investigation would also send
a strong signal to the next generation of researchers that
unfettered and responsible scientific investigation is not welcome
in the United States.
We, the undersigned, urge that legislation to impose criminal and
civil sanctions against attempts to create a cloned human being be
enacted. We also oppose strongly any legislation that would prohibit
or impede the scientifically legitimate, responsible use of nuclear
transplantation technology for research and therapeutic purposes.
Similarly, any attempt to prohibit the use of therapies in the
United States that were developed with the aid of nuclear
transplantation technology overseas denies hope for those seeking
new therapies for the most debilitating diseases known to man.
Sidney Altman
Sterling Professor of Biology
Yale
University
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1989
Kenneth J. Arrow
Professor of Economics and Professor of
Operations Research,Emeritus
Stanford University
Nobel Prize
in Economics, 1972
Julius Axelrod
Scientist Emeritus
National Institutes of
Health
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1970
David Baltimore
President and Professor of
Biology
California Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine, 1975
Paul Berg
Cahill Professor of Cancer Research and
Biochemistry, Emeritus
Director, Beckman Center for Molecular
& Genetic Medicine, Emeritus
Stanford University School of
Medicine
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1980
J. Michael Bishop
University Professor and
Chancellor
University of California, San Francisco
Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine, 1989
Thomas R. Cech
Distinguished Professor
University of
Colorado, Boulder
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1989
Stanley Cohen
Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry,
Emeritus
Vanderbilt University
Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine, 1986
Elias James Corey
Sheldon Emery Research Professor of
Chemistry
Harvard University
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1990
Johann Deisenhofer
Virginia and Edward
Linthicum
Distinguished Chair in Biomolecular Science
Regental
Professor
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at
Dallas
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1988
Renato Dulbecco
Distinguished Research Professor
President
Emeritus
The Salk Instistute
Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine, 1975
Edmond H. Fischer
Professor, Emeritus of
Biochemistry
University of Washington
Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine, 1992
Jerome I. Friedman
Institute Professor
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1990
Walter Gilbert
Carl M. Loeb University Professor
The
Biological Laboratories
Harvard University
Nobel Prize in
Chemistry, 1980
Alfred G. Gilman
Regental Professor and Chairman
Raymond
and Ellen Willie Distinguished Chair in Molecular
Neuropharmacology
Director, Alliance for Cellular
Signaling
Chairman, Department of Pharmacology
University of
Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine, 1994
Donald A. Glaser
Professor of Physics and
Neurobiology
University of California, Berkeley
Nobel Prize in
Physics, 1960
Joseph L. Goldstein
Regental Professor
Department of
Molecular Genetics
University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1985
Paul Greengard
Vincent Astor Professor
Laboratory of
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
The Rockefeller
University
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2000
Lee Hartwell
President and Director
Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center
Professor, Department of Genome
Sciences
University of Washington School of Medicine
Nobel
Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2001
Dudley Herschbach
Baird Professor of Science
Department of
Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University
Nobel Prize
in Chemistry, 1986
Tim Hunt
Principal Scientist
Cancer Research UK
Nobel
Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2001
Jerome Karle
Chief Scientist
Laboratory for the Structure
of Matter
Naval Research Laboratory
Nobel Prize in Chemistry,
1985
Arthur Kornberg
Emma Pfeiffer Merner Professor
Emeritus
Professor of Biochemistry
Stanford University School of
Medicine
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1959
Edwin G. Krebs
Professor Emeritus, Senior Investigator
Emeritus
Department of Pharmacology,
Howard Hughes Medical
Institute
University of Washington School of Medicine
Nobel
Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1992
Leon M. Lederman
Pritzker Professor of Science
Illinois
Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1988
Edward B. Lewis
Thomas Hunt Morgan Professor of Biology,
Emeritus
California Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine, 1995
William N. Lipscomb
Abbot and James Lawrence Professor,
Emeritus
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard
University
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1976
Ferid Murad
Professor and Chairman
Department of
Integrative Biology,Pharmacology and Physiology
University of
Texas at Houston
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1998
Marshall Nirenberg
Chief, Laboratory of Biochemical
Genetics
National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute
National
Institutes of Health
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1968
Sir Paul Nurse
Director-General (Science)
Cancer Research
UK
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2001
Burton Richter
Paul Piggot Professor in the Physical
Sciences
Director, Stanford Linear
Accelerator Center,
Emeritus
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1976
Richard J. Roberts
Research Director
New England
Biolabs
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1993
Phillip A. Sharp
Institute Professor
Director, McGovern
Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine, 1993
Hamilton O. Smith
Senior Director of DNA Resources
Celera
Genomics
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1978
Robert M. Solow
Institute Professor Emeritus
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in Economics, 1987
E. Donnall Thomas
Professor of Medicine,
Emeritus
University of Washington
Member, Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,
1990
Harold Varmus
President, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center
Former Director, National Institutes of Health
Nobel
Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1989
James D. Watson
President, Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory
Director, National Center for Human Genome Research,
NIH, 1989-1992
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1962
Torsten Nils Wiesel
The Rockefeller University, President
Emeritus
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1981
Robert W. Wilson
Senior Scientist
Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1978