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Press Release
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- For Immediate Release
- February 27, 2002
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- Contact:
- Mark Helm
202-783-7400
x102 202-270-3650 cell
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SENATE ASKED TO PREVENT CLONING
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BY NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL
LEADERS
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- Washington DC - Nine nationally
recognized environmental leaders sent a letter
today to the U.S. Senate requesting action to prevent human
cloning. The letter calls for:
- A ban on human reproductive cloning
and inheritable genetic modifications, including "designer
babies."
- A moratorium on the creation of
clonal human embryos for research, while alternatives are explored
and strict government regulation is established to prevent abuses
of this technology
- An international convention under the
auspices of the United Nations to bring the new human genetic
technologies within the ambit of responsible global governance.
- "Human cloning is opposed by an
overwhelming majority of Americans," said Friends of the Earth
President Dr. Brent Blackwelder. "The Senate must impose an
immediate ban on reproductive cloning and enact strict regulation
of research that might rely on embryo cloning."
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- The letter supports research that
would help determine the therapeutic potential of human stem cells
but opposes the unrestricted creation of clonal embryos as part of
such research to avoid the risks of fully-formed human clones
eventually being born and of the technology being used to alter
the human species.
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- While many organizations are still
developing their policies on this rapidly emerging issue, the
individuals and groups signing the letter wanted to make a clear
statement that cloning and inheritable genetic modification should
be prevented while the issue is before the U.S. Senate.
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- To read the
letter sent to the U.S. Senate or for more information on
Friends of the Earth's Campaign to Stop Cloning, see http://www.foe.org/stopcloning/index.html
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