Memorandum In Support Of Stem Cell Research
A.6249/Silver

March 2004

Interfaith IMPACT of New York State is a statewide advocacy organization representing Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, and Reform Jewish congregations and individuals. We address emerging public policies and their legislative implications from our shared faith traditions, which derive from the historic teachings of our faith in God and humankind, and which call upon all people to participate in the ongoing work of perfecting the world.

At Harvard University, 17 new lines of embryonic stem cells have been derived from excess fertilized eggs obtained from in-vitro fertilization clinics. The work was done with private funds because the U.S. government limits federal funding for new cell lines. Privately funded efforts to study the feasibility of using embryonic stem cells to treat disease and make replacements for malfunctioning organs are proceeding at Harvard and other universities, such as Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Wisconsin-Madison, Minnesota, and U.C. San Francisco.

New York State will be excluded from this explosion in scientific research without enabling state legislation. New York`s biomedical industry is a critical component of the state`s economy that provides substantial employment, pays substantial wages and salaries, invests billions in research, and reports billions in worldwide revenue. This industry would be significantly limited by restrictions imposed on stem cell research.

There are two types of cloning, therapeutic and reproductive. They both begin in the same way, in that genetic material from a somatic cell (a skin, heart, nerve or other type of cell) is inserted into an egg cell, replacing the nucleus of the egg. This new egg, with the nucleus of the somatic cells is stimulated to begin dividing. In therapeutic cloning, the resulting stem cells from this egg are removed from the cell cluster and may be used to grow specific types of cells to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. In reproductive cloning, the entire cell cluster is implanted into a woman to grow into a fetus, which would result in a child with the same DNA as the donor of the somatic cell. The Assembly bill prohibits "human cloning".

God has given us the wisdom to make informed ethical decisions; we must apply that wisdom as science continues to pose challenging moral questions and offer great possibilities. Finally, denying funds for medical research that can fulfill our obligation to engage in the healing of human suffering is exactly the wrong step to take.

IINYS urges the Senate to offer a bill that would advance research in New York State.

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