Contact: Maggie Goldberg, 800-225-0292
Tricia Brooks, 202-833-0355

Scientists, Patient Advocates, and Political Leaders Oppose Research Ban

Christopher Reeve, Senator Kennedy, Join Nobel Prize Winners, Activists and Parents to Support Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (aka "Therapeutic Cloning")

Washington, DC - Senate leaders will join members of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR), patient advocates, parents and prominent scientists on March 5 at 1:45 p.m. to urge the Senate not to pass legislation that would criminalize an important research pathway, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), sometimes known as "therapeutic cloning." The media briefing will immediately precede hearings on the issue by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at 2:30 p.m.

Although SCNT is fundamentally different from reproductive cloning, and draws support from the National Academy of Sciences and leading doctors and medical researchers around the country, it would be banned under legislation that will go to the Senate floor in a few weeks. Senate leaders, patient advocates, and prominent scientists oppose the legislation because SCNT could lead to new treatments and cures for the more than 100 million Americans facing now-incurable illnesses such as cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, ALS and spinal cord injury.

WHAT:

• A media briefing highlighting the potential of SCNT on patients and their families.