Now is not the time to
eliminate ground breaking scientific research.
As you may be aware,
Minnesota
legislature is currently considering some of the most dangerous legislation we
have seen designed to halt one key area of diabetes research. The legislation
seeks to criminalize and defund the research and the scientists doing it, which
will lead to them leaving the state, taking resources, leadership and jobs.
Scientists and doctors around the globe believe that stem cell research has
life-saving and life-enhancing potential. Progress in this area of research
could cure diseases like type 1 diabetes, cancer, paralysis, and spinal cord
injury, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other devastating conditions.
Therapeutic Cloning is not REPRODUCTIVE
CLONING. No one in this debate is in
favor of reproductive cloning.
Therapeutic cloning, known as SCNT –
somatic cell nuclear transplant, takes an unfertilized egg and adds DNA from a
patient to create a stem cell line. These stem cells can be used to replace
damaged tissues or cells, including islet (insulin) cells. The cell line is
compatible with the patient making it potentially more affective and free of
rejection risks.
JDRF does not support reproductive cloning, which seeks
to replicate an entire organism (like Dolly). Therapeutic cloning and
reproductive cloning are not identical. A law in Minnsota already addresses a
ban on human reproductive cloning. However, these bills seek to tie them
together.
To help the legislature know the differences in these types of
research and to save the practice of therapeutic SCNT research in Minnesota a
press conference is being held to your chance to show support of scientific
research and therapeutic cloning which is helping to find cures and treatments
for diabetes. We need your voice to help convey the importance of this
research.
The Save
Research, Save Lives event will be
held:
Thursday, March
31
11:00-12:00
State Office Building (across the street from the
Capitol) - Room
181
See below for more information
on the legislation and the event:
The Bills: SF
760 Health and Human Services Omnibus bill (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bin/bldbill.php?bill=S0760.2.html&session=ls87
section 25.145.4221) and SF 924 Omnibus higher education (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bin/bldbill.php?bill=S0924.1.html&session=ls87
section 10.145.4221)
SCNT research: You can visit JDRF’s Web site to
learn more http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?page_id=101083
Use
this link to learn about Parking at the Capital complex http://www.admin.state.mn.us/pmd/4-2_public_parking.htm