News and Articles
Missourians Against Human Cloning
April 20, 2007
Press Release
St. Louis, MO (April 20,2007) The most recent MEC report indicates human cloning proponents contributed $133,834 from their PAC, Supporters of Health Research and Treatments to a number of legislators on both sides of the aisle. The wealthy bio-tech special interests have vast resources and have consistently spent substantial sums to influence legislators and promote unethical, unproven human cloning research in our state.
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CNNMoney.com
April 5, 2007
New stem cell treatments on the way
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Two new stem cell treatments could be entering the U.S. market next year. Two biotechs, Cytori Therapeutics and Osiris Therapeutics, each hope to get their experimental stem cell products approved by the Food and Drug Administration and into the U.S. market by 2008.
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One News Now
March 31, 2007
Sen. DeMint, others say human cloning crosses ethical line
Dismayed that states like Iowa and Missouri have approved human cloning, some U.S. senators are once again seeking to ban the practice, calling for it to be criminalized.
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The Kansas City Star
March 7, 2007
Hundreds rally at Mo. Capitol against embryonic cloning procedure
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Hundreds of opponents of embryonic stem cell research crammed the Capitol halls Wednesday urging a statewide election on whether to overturn a voter-approved constitutional protection for such research.
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The Kansas City Star
February 8, 2007
Right to Life remains opposed to college plan, despite changes
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Missouri Right to Life said Thursday it remains opposed to Gov. Matt Blunt's college construction plan, despite legislative changes intended to ease its fears that some buildings could be used for embryonic stem cell research.
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch
November 1, 2006
Ballot promises don't match the amendment
"I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me. -- U.S. Rep. Willard Duncan Vandiver, 1899. Vandiver's words spoken more than a century ago helped to popularize his home state's unofficial designation as the "Show-Me State.'' Whether they still hold true will be tested Nov. 7 when voters try to wrap their minds around a stem cell amendment that is long on "frothy eloquence'' and short on "show me.''
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Jefferson City News Tribune
October 31, 2006
Proposed stem cell amendment opposed
Dear Editor: Our oldest son has multiple sclerosis. We hope and pray for a cure for this disease, and for all the other diseases that may, someday, be cured or reduced in impact by stem cell research. However, we will be joining our son and his wife in voting against Amendment 2 on Nov. 7.
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Jefferson City News Tribune
October 31, 2006
Proposed stem cell amendment opposed
Dear Editor: Proponents of Amendment 2, the stem cell initiative, would like for the general public to believe that those who oppose this amendment are against stem cell research in general, that they are against finding cures, and are cold hearted and uninformed.
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Jefferson City News Tribune
October 31, 2006
Proposed stem cell amendment opposed
Dear Editor: I am pleased to see the News Tribune take a stand against Amendment 2 in the Sunday editorial. I have been very discouraged by the lack of media scrutiny of this issue - perhaps because they are the main recipients of the millions of dollars being spent in the effort to get this amendment passed. It's amazing considering the usual media bias against big business - and the biotechnology industry is very big business.
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Jefferson City News Tribune
October 31, 2006
Proposed stem cell amendment opposed
Dear Editor: Amendment 2 is an example where many good people have given themselves to a very bad cause. They have been hoodwinked. They have been lured by seductive language. The language of the amendment pretends to be against cloning but portends the opposite.
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Media Advisory
October 30, 2006
African American Women of Missouri Speak Out Against Amendment 2
There are approximately 130,000 African-American women between the ages of 20-34 (the preferred age-range for egg donors) living in Missouri, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Bioethicist Wesley Smith estimates "biotechnologists would need access to at least 10 billion eggs just to treat the Americans the NAS (National Academy of Sciences) has identified as having degenerative conditions that might respond positively to stem cell therapy."
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INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
October 25, 2006
Fox On Stem Cells: Fair And Balanced?
Bioscience: The tragedy of Michael J. Fox and others with debilitating diseases is compelling, but their arguments regarding embryonic stem cells are not. No cure has ever been found at the ballot box. Fox, who played teenage Republican Alex P. Keaton on the sitcom "Family Ties," has cut a commercial for Democratic senatorial candidates in Maryland and Missouri essentially making the same argument that vice presidential candidate John Edwards made in 2004: Elect Democrats so medical research can proceed without interference by those right-wing Bible thumpers and the lame will walk.
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American Thinker
October 25, 2006
The Unconscionable Claims of Michael J. Fox
The popular and appealing actor Michael J. Fox has taken to the airwaves in Senate battleground states Missouri, Maryland, and New Jersey with a highly misleading ad urging defeat of Republican Senatorial candidates opposing the use of taxpayer dollars to fund new embryonic stem cell line research. He states, "Stem cell research offers hope to millions of Americans with diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson'sÉ. But George Bush and Michael Steele would put limits on the most promising stem cell research."
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch
October 24, 2006
Stem-cell initiative: It would do the opposite of what it claims to do
Constitutional Amendment 2 is a fraud. It purports to ban human cloning, but the fine print actually creates a constitutional right to human cloning. It purports to ban the purchase and sale of human eggs, but the fine print actually gives a constitutional safe haven to human egg trafficking. It purports to keep its hands out of taxpayers' pockets, but the fine print actually puts biotech special interests above the law and gives them constitutional arguments for public funding.
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Springfield News-Leader
October 22, 2006
Amendment 2 is wrong solution
For all the intense, knock-down, drag-out fighting taking place about human cloning, we believe Amendment 2 is about a different issue altogether. The future of the American system of government.
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WorldNetDaily
October 20, 2006
Biotechs use legal threat to try to halt anti-cloning ad
Promoters of Missouri's Amendment 2 ballot issue, which is called a "cloning ban" even though it specifically allows for that process for "research," have sent a legal threat to a television station for airing an ad pointing that out.
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Press Statement
October 17, 2006
Statement from Cathy Ruse, chief spokesperson, Missourians Against Human Cloning, on the amount of money spent by forces pushing the passage of Constitutional Amendment 2
Already the biotech special interests behind the deception that is Amendment 2 have spent $30 million; it's an attempt to buy an amendment to the Missouri Constitution.
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St. Joseph News Press
October 13, 2006
The Wrong Amendment
I oppose Amendment 2 for three reasons: one, it has been promoted as a means to prevent cloning when it does exactly the opposite, it not only permits it, it enshrines it in our state Constitution;
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LifeSite.com
October 13, 2006
Missouri Cloning Amendment Deceptively Claims to Ban Cloning
A Missouri constitutional initiative, Amendment 2, set for a vote November 7th , is being widely denounced as "deceptive" and manipulative by pro-life advocates opposed to human cloning and by those who fear women will be exploited for their ova in cloning experiments.
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Lake Sun Leader
September 27, 2006
The deception problem in stem cell research
One expert at the National Institutes of Health explained this discrepancy between political messages and scientific fact by commenting: "To start with, people need a fairy tale." In fact, we do not need a fairy tale. We need the truth.
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TownHall.com
September 25, 2006
The exploitation of the egg
Feminists, beware: Missouri may soon become the Clone-Me State. Rise up and stop it. In Missouri this November, a misleading ballot initiative called Amendment 2 -- the "Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative" -- promises to "ban human cloning." In actuality, the referendum -- like earlier deceitful state measures in the likes of New Jersey and California -- would work to do just the opposite.
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St. Joseph News Press
September 23, 2006
Stem-cell debate
After reading the article on a reported lawsuit against me this morning, I feel that it is important that I provide what Paul Harvey would call, "the rest of the story." According to the reporter, I am being sued by Colonial 353 Redevelopment Corp. I have not yet been served with any papers whatsoever, so I can only relate to what she reported.
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St. Louis Review
September 22, 2006
Amendment 2: A moral crisis for Missouri and our nation
As citizens of Missouri, we find ourselves in the midst of an unimaginably severe moral crisis. On this coming Nov. 7, the citizens of our state will decide whether the constitution of our state should guarantee the right to generate human life artificially in order to destroy it at its very beginning, at the embryonic stage of its development. In short, we, the citizens of Missouri, are being asked to advance the culture of death in our state so that our tiniest brothers and sisters will no longer enjoy the protection of the law but will be made legally the subjects, the slaves, of those who wish to manipulate and destroy their lives for the sake of supposed scientific and technological progress on the way to the cure of certain dread diseases and the treatment of certain severe injuries.
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St. Louis Review
September 22, 2006
Young donors help anti-cloning cause
A fund-raiser earlier this month at the City Museum Downtown garnered a $6,000 donation for the media campaign of Missourians Against Human Cloning. More than 200 people, including Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, attended the Sept. 7 event, sponsored by Young Friends for Life, a new organization of young professionals promoting pro-life issues.
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Missouri Farm Bureau Press Release
September 22, 2006
Missouri Farm Bureau Board of Directors Votes to Oppose Amendment #2
Based upon the policy adopted at the annual meeting of its membership, the Missouri Farm Bureau Board of Directors at its September meeting voted to oppose Constitutional Amendment #2, the so-called stem cell research and cures initiative.
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Jefferson City News Tribune
September 17, 2006
Speaker makes distinction between embryonic, adult stem cell research
He's been speaking against the issue for the last five years and now things are coming down to the wire. John Morris, Ph.D, is an associate professor of philosophy at Rockhurst University and has been before numerous legislative panels at the Missouri Capitol talking against embryonic stem cell research.
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St. Paul Pioneer Press
September 9, 2006
Stem cell line to debut in Rome
The Vatican would not seem to be the ideal venue to tell the world about your new line of stem cells. In the storm of debate over research involving embryonic stem cells, the Catholic Church sits at the center. The church is strongly opposed to the creation or destruction of human embryos for research purposes.
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St. Louis Review
September 1, 2006
Cloning opponents decry new stem-cell development
The news last week that a form of embryonic stem-cell research can avoid harming embryos does not change the Catholic Church's position that embryonic stem-cell research is immoral. It also didn't soften opponents of Amendment No. 2, a ballot initiative that seeks to constitutionally protect embryonic stem-cell research. Voters will decide on the issue Nov. 7.
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MSNBC
August 29, 2006
Slippery slope: Inflated science claims equal $$
The campaign to generate hype kicked off weeks before the news broke - as often happens when biotechnology firms claim major achievements. A company called Advanced Cell Technology was preparing to publish its results, out last week, that it had harvested human embryonic stem cells from single cells of embryos
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LifeSite.com
August 15, 2006
Scientists Backtrack on Embryonic Research Claims: Bait and Switch Reveals No Hope for Cures for 5 to 10 Years
Scientific researchers are now beginning the tedious task of altering the public's expectations of the aims of human embryonic stem-cell research, deviating from the primary goals of providing stem-cell therapies to cure diseases. In what amounts to a bait and switch, these researchers, no longer promising immediate theoretical cures for a myriad of diseases desired by a desperate public, are now justifying the research by claiming that human embryonic cells are instead marvelous research tools for investigating the mechanisms of disease rather than actively curing them.
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St. Louis Review
August 11, 2006
Anti-cloning group educates voters at Aug. primary elections
Missouri voters who went to the polls earlier this week for the August primary election got a better glimpse of things to come in November. Members of Missourians Against Human Cloning distributed hundreds of thousands of fliers across the state about the problems with the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative that voters will decide on Nov. 7 as Constitutional Amendment No. 2.
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LifeNews.com
August 7, 2006
Missouri Human Cloning Opponents: Ballot Proposal Will Exploit Women
Jefferson City, MO (LifeNews.com) -- Opponents of a Missouri ballot proposal to promote embryonic stem cell research and human cloning say there are more than just ethical concerns that should prompt state voters to oppose it. They also say human cloning will end up exploiting women and that the process used to collect eggs for cloning is medically dangerous.
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USA Today
July 24, 2006
EU will fund human stem cell research without cloning, killing
BRUSSELS - The European Union decided Monday to continue funding human embryonic stem cell research, although under new rules that prevent human cloning and destroying embryos.
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MSNBC
July 19, 2006
Bush vetoes stem cell bill; House can't override
WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday failed to muster enough votes to override President Bush's veto of a bill to expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research.
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St. Joseph News Press
July 13, 2006
Never-ending debate
I found two points of agreement with a recent letter supporting the Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative (July 10, The Debate Continues). First, "every responsible voter should take the time to read and study the proposed amendment and discuss it with others"
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seMissourian
July 11, 2006
Real cures use adult stem cells
I'm asking your readers to wonder why most of the health organizations are spending millions to get us to vote for the Missouri stem-cell initiative and most of those opposed are women. If you look at embryonic stem-cell research, the researchers have to harvest eggs from women to do the research.
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St. Louis Business Journal
July 10, 2006
Stem cell ethics
In response to the front page article in the June 23 issue on the Missouri Cloning amendment (Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative), I think your readers deserve a little clarification. This battle is not between the stem cell supporters and opponents. It is between a few powerful wealthy people who support a cloning technique, somatic cell nuclear transfer, and those who want to see all human cloning banned in Missouri.
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Cybercast News Service
June 23, 2006
Australian PM Holds Line on Embryonic Cloning
In a victory for pro-life advocates, Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced Friday that his government would not lift a ban on the cloning of human embryos for research.
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St. Louis Review OnLine
June 16, 2006
African Americans speak out for life at rally
Unborn babies received a voice from the African-American community at a rally and march last weekend in the Ville neighborhood of North St. Louis. Some 50 people turned out for the Black Americans for Life Rally and March, which raised awareness of life issues. June is designated as abortion awareness month in the African-American community.
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US Conference of Catholic Bishops
May 31, 2006
New Poll: Americans Continue To Oppose Funding Stem Cell Research That Destroys Human Embryos
WASHINGTON (May 31, 2006) - A new poll shows that 48% of Americans oppose federal funding of stem cell research that requires destroying human embryos, while only 39% support such funding. The poll, conducted by International Communications Research (ICR), surveyed over one thousand adults by telephone May 19-23.
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Columbia Daily Tribune
May 28, 2006
Eagleton stem cell column won't persuade pro-lifers
In the May 21 Tribune's Opinion section, Thomas F. Eagleton offered three claims that are supposed to persuade pro-life advocates that they should support embryonic stem cell research. These claims are seriously flawed.
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Columbia Daily Tribune
May 28, 2006
Stem cell research would enrich biotech industry
In Tom Eagleton's column promoting embryonic stem cell research, he conveniently ignores the following facts on the issue:
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Springfield News-Leader
May 28, 2006
Public officials should tell truth about amendment
Amending the Missouri Constitution to protect destructive research on living human embryos will devalue their lives and exploit the real plights of sick and disabled Missourians for the benefit of investors. These neighbors, friends and family members of us all deserve the truth and to know who actually benefits from a yes vote on the cloning amendment.
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ABC News
May 19, 2006
College Students Targeted for Egg Donation
When she was a film school student several years ago, Carrie Specht spotted an advertisement in a newspaper seeking out women willing to donate their eggs. It sounded intriguing -- and it was a way to make money. "I'm not going to kid anybody. The dollar signs were there first and foremost," said Specht, who attended New York University.
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St. Joseph News-Press
May 16, 2006
Ethical Stand
On Wednesday, May 3, in the front page article of the News-Press, Sen. Jim Talent restated that his position against a state ballot initiative to protect embryonic stem-cell research was a personal decision, not a political one.
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Missourians Against Human Cloning - Press Release
May 12, 2006
Cloning Amendment will Contain Misleading Language
Forty-eight hours after Missourians Against Human Cloning filed an appeal with the Missouri Supreme Court, the appeal was denied. Jaci Winship, Executive Director of Missourians Against Human Cloning stated, "It is unfortunate for the voters in Missouri that current law does not allow the courts to require that a ballot title is truthful."
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Focus on the Family
May 1, 2006
Seeing Them for What They Are
The debate over embryonic stem cell research would be different if everyone could see the ultimate "result" of an embryo.
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Missourians Against Human Cloning - Press Release
May 1, 2006
Pro-Cloning Group Buys Place on November Ballot
There were no real surprises today when the proponents of the cloning amendment were able to purchase more than enough signatures to place their initiative on the November ballot. They have continually shown that with the seemingly endless funds from Stowers, they will spend whatever is necessary to deceive the voters into supporting this unethical amendment to our Missouri constitution.
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Missourians Against Human Cloning - Press Release
April 28, 2006
Bill to Protect Women from Exploitive Egg Harvesting Is Voted Out of Committee
On Thursday, the Health Care Policy Committee of the Missouri House of Representatives voted in favor of HB2087. The summary of the bill is as follows:
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Concerned Women for America
March 9, 2006
Cloning Requires Exploiting Women
An issue oftentimes neglected in the discussion of cloning is the primary material necessary for cloning: women's eggs. Any form of human cloning requires vast numbers of women's eggs. To give an idea of the numbers, in animal cloning, Dolly the sheep was one success out of 279 embryos. It is unknown how many sheep eggs were used to get 279 embryos.
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U.S. House of Representitives Committee on Government Reform
March 7, 2006
Human Cloning and Embryonic Stem Cell Research after Seoul: Examining exploitation, fraud and ethical problems in the research
Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources. Opening Statement of Chairman Mark Souder
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Source of Article
Date
Stem-cell initiative discussed: Bush appointee says embryonic research necessitates cloning
A member of George W. Bush's President's Council on Bioethics says the language in Missouri's proposed constitutional amendment to protect stem-cell therapeutic cloning is deceptive.
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The Columbia Daily Tribune
March 7, 2006
Use of embryonic stem cells is not worth the end result
Editor, the Tribune: As a consistent life supporter, I oppose creating embryos in the lab to harvest stem cells. Embryos are not the only source of stem cells. Other stem cells, such as those from umbilical cord blood, show greater promise.
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Hands Off Our Ovaries!
March 8, 2006
Hands Off Our Ovaries! International Women's Day Brings Launch of a New Coalition of Women to Campaign Against Exploitation of Women in Biotechnology
On Wednesday, 8 th March, International Women's Day, a coalition of "pro-choice" and "pro-life" women, concerned at the growing exploitation of women in biotechnology will launch a new campaign against the harvesting and marketing of human eggs. The campaign. 'Hands off our ovaries!' will highlight the short and long-term risks involved in egg harvesting and its significance for the health and dignity of women.
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St. Joseph News-Press
March 6, 2006
The cost of a cure
The debate surrounding when life begins is an ongoing debate. While some scientists conclude that a human embryo five days after conception is just a blob of cells, you in fact were already male or female. You had 46 human chromosomes, so as not to be confused with a guinea pig or head of lettuce. Except for food or oxygen, nothing was added to that single cell you once were at the moment of conception until today. The notion that "life begins at implantation" in the mother's womb is an attempt to base human value on the location of this new being and its dependency on another human being. Who among us is not dependent on others? Who among us can live without food and hydration?
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St. Louis Review (subscription required)
March 3, 2006
Anti-cloning coalition flexes its muscles
A new coalition came out in full force this week to fight a possible November ballot initiative that would constitutionally protect human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research in Missouri.
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The Kansas City Star
March 2, 2006
Shifting definition of cloning
Petitions have only begun to be gathered to qualify the Missouri Stem Cell and Cures Initiative for November's ballot, and already the controversy is white hot.
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The Kansas City Star
February 27, 2006
Opposition group kicks off campaign against stem cell measure
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A group that opposes a proposed constitutional amendment that would protect stem cell research and treatments in Missouri formally kicked of its campaign Monday.
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The Kansas City Star
January 27, 2006
Appeal to be filed over proposed stem cell ballot
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A court ruling that upheld the language of a proposed statewide ballot on stem cell initiatives is being appealed by opponents of embryonic stem cell research who contend the measure's wording is misleading.
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The Washington Post
February 2, 2006
'St. Jack' and the Bullies in the Pulpit
Jack Danforth wishes the Republican right would step down from its pulpit. Instead, he sees a constant flow of religion into national politics. And not just any religion, either, but the us-versus-them, my-God-is-bigger-than-your-God, velvet-fist variety of Christian evangelism.
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The Berkeley Daily Planet
January 31, 2006
Commentary: Cloning Fraud: Just a Korean Scandal?
Ongoing investigations into cloning researcher Hwang Woo Suk's apparently fraudulent results are seeing American researchers and bioethicist apologists disavowing any connection between Korea's scandal and the integrity of embryonic stem cell research more generally. Hwang, so recently honored as a hero in the field, is an aberration we are told now.
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Jefferson City News Tribune
January 27, 2006
Ruling on stem cell petition appealed
Opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment to protect all forms of stem cells research in the state have filed their notice of appeal in the legal battle.
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United Press International
January 31, 2006
Bush urges ban on human cloning
U.S. President George Bush Tuesday called for a complete ban on human cloning and embryo experimentation. In his State of the Union address, Bush said a hopeful society cannot allow science and medicine to "cut ethical corners."
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Source of Article
February 16, 2005
FRC's Director of Life and Women's Issues Pia de Solenni, Ph.D. gave the following testimony before the Massachusetts State Legislature's Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies regarding adult stem cell research and embryonic stem cell research on February 16, 2005.
I am Dr. Pia de Solenni, director of life and women's issues at the Family Research Council in Washington, DC. I speak to you today as an ethicist who has researched adult stem cell research and embryonic stem cell research from many perspectives.
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The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network
February 12, 2006
Cloning and Stem Cell Research: California's Bizzare Cloning Proposition
Published in the San Fransisco Chronicle. In the annals of popular democracy, one of the strangest initiatives ever to make it to the ballot is the $3 billion bond known as Proposition 71. It is intended to sustain biotech researchers from the public purse while they pursue a project that private investors have already decided is worthless. And it is a project that nation after nation around the world has already declared to be a felony.
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The Truth About Amendment 2
Listen to Dr. Rob Hanson's Interview on Eagle Forum Radio