Will This Year?s Budget Continue Funding for Lethal Research on Stem Cells Derived from Human Embryos and Human Cloning?
NEW JERSEY RIGHT TO LIFE
113 NORTH AVENUE WEST
CRANFORD, NJ 07016
www.njrtl.org
Contact: Marie Tasy
Public & Legislative Affairs Director
(908) 276-6620
(732) 846-2000
March 2, 2005-
In his March 1 budget address, Acting Governor Codey made the following statement: ?Don?t mislead the public with false choices about easy options that do not exist.? In his January State of the State Address, the Acting Governor vowed to push for $380 million in bonds to fund clone and kill research performed on human embryos.
?We hope the Acting Governor will follow his own advice and abandon previous plans to fund the NJ Stem Cell Institute in this year?s budget,? said Marie Tasy, Executive Director of New Jersey Right to Life. ?Any attempt to promote the funding of research which involves the killing of human embryos as a cure for illness or disease is not only wrong, it misleads the public with false information that is not based on evidence and will divert critical resources away from much needed investments in health from other sources that have proven to be effective. To date, scientists have not even been able to use human embryonic stem cells in animals, let alone in humans,? said Tasy. ?Regardless of all the ?hype? and ?promises of miracle cures? perpetuated by proponents of human embryonic stem cell research, the truth is that researchers have failed to coax human embryonic stem cells to become specific types of mature cells without inducing runaway cell growth ? malignant cancers called ?teratomas.? ?
In comparison, non-embryonic or adult stem cells such as those taken from bone marrow and umbilical cord blood have been used in about 300 human clinical trials and are treating over 80 different diseases ranging from Parkinson?s, Diabetes, Heart Disease and Spinal Cord Injury. In fact, the significant strides that are occurring daily through the use of adult stem cells are making the push to use human embryos obsolete.
The NJ Law, P.L. 2003, C.203 and the proposal to provide funding to the NJ Stem Cell Institute run counter to a February 18, 2005 United Nations General Assembly vote which calls on all governments to prohibit all forms of human cloning.
?Somatic cell nuclear transplantation (SCNT),? universally recognized as cloning, is expressly authorized under a law signed in January 2004 which was sponsored by the Acting Governor. The legislation made it through the Assembly by a razor thin margin of only one vote in a contentious lame duck session in December of 2003. Last year during McGreevey?s budget address, $6.5 Million was proposed for the NJ Stem Cell Institute. Without public notice, the amount was later increased to $11.5 million on the day before the budget vote.
?The Supreme Court has ruled the state cannot borrow to fund operating costs. Therefore, any effort to get the Legislature to use bonds to fund the Stem Cell Institute would be unconstitutional under this ruling. The taxpayers of NJ want their money used ethically and wisely. Any proposal to fund this research would be a gross betrayal of the public trust and a shameful waste of taxpayer money. The Legislature would be wise to reject it,? concluded Tasy.
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