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Why is George W. Bush Trying to Send America's Best Medical Researchers to Jail?
What can you do about it?
That's right, jail. George W. Bush is trying to get a law passed that would imprison and heavily fine any researcher, doctor or patient who uses a new medical procedure called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to treat a debilitating illness. H.R. 534, the bill that George W. Bush supports, has already been passed by a mostly Republican coalition in the House of Representatives and is moving through the Senate. Even going to another country where the procedure is legal for purposes of treatment may be criminal next year if Mr. Bush and his allies in Congress get their way.
What sort of dastardly act merits this kind of punishment? Are these researchers, doctors and patients part of some nefarious plot to traffic in human organs? Would the procedure harm or violate the rights of any adult, child, infant or fetus? Is SCNT some kind of quackery outside of mainstream science?
No, no, and no.
The promise in SCNT lies simply in taking cells from a patient's own body and creating stem cell cultures (not organs or babies) matching that patient's genetic code. In this way, flexible medical treatment may be possible without risk of auto-immune rejection. With proper research, SCNT has the capability to soon play a crucial role in the treatment of degenerative diseases, spinal cord injuries and even cancers. This potential is not theoretical: SCNT has recently been demonstrated by researchers to cure Parkinson's disease in animal tests.
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More at:
http://irregulartimes.com/stemcell.htmlSign the petition supporting SCNT and denouncing H.R. 534 here:
http://www.stemcellhelp.org/Only 2,701 people signed so far! Please help.
Thanks.
Edited for title and number of signatories.