A Word about Michael J. Fox, and Why the Missouri "Cloning/Stem Cell" Ballot Measure is so Dangerous

Aimee Herd : Nov 2, 2006
Missouri Secretary of State

There has been "much ado" lately about the recent appearance of actor Michael J. Fox, both in a commercial backing a Missouri stem cell/cloning measure, and also on the campaign trail, stumping for candidates who support stem cell research. But Michael J. Fox, who has suffered with the ever increasing effects of Parkinson's Disease since 1991, has every right to "go after a cure" for this horribly debilitating, and ultimately fatal sickness.

In fact, Fox has probably done a great service in advancing the research and awareness of Parkinson's, through his own foundation. I have a dear friend who lost her husband a while back to this disease, and now her son suffers with the very same thing. I know she too longs to see a cure be found.

Often though, those concerned with the destruction of embryos for the sake of research and a cure, are seen as being AGAINST finding that cure, AGAINST people like Michael J. Fox and the many others, being healed. But what they (myself included) are "against" is the destruction of a human life—in the name of science. Especially when there has been increasing success with other forms of stem cells, i.e.: adult and umbilical, and little to none with embryonic. Recently, we published a news story which revealed a highly possible link to cancer from using embryonic stem cells in treatment.

Why then is embryonic stem cell research pushed above the other kinds? I have no idea.

I have nothing against Michael J. Fox pursuing a cure for Parkinson's, but I do have a problem with the promotion of destroying human embryos. I have nothing against Michael J. Fox appearing in a commercial in support of a measure to "protect" stem cell research. But I do have a problem with the fact that he admitted to not having read the measure first. Which brings me to the second point of this editorial . . .

The deception of Missouri's Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.

I must admit, upon first reading Amendment 2, it did appear to do just what supporters say, "ban human cloning" and protect stem cell research. However, after studying further, I saw the danger hidden in the 2,100 word "Constitutional Amendment" which apparently won't be included on the ballot itself at voting time.

Yes, the upfront part of Amendment 2 bans "reproductive cloning" . . . however, according to the Life Communications Fund, that kind of cloning, which would result in a fully-grown human baby, is not being done anywhere by anyone. The kind of cloning that would be made a "constitutional right" by the amendment is called "Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer," one of the most common kinds of cloning.

A statement on the "2Tricky.org" website reads:

The operation used to clone human beings for research is called "Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer." This involves combining a woman's egg with the nucleus of another living cell. The result is a human embryo. Two weeks later, stem cells are "harvested" from that embryo, and it's destroyed.

Backers of Amendment 2 claim that this isn't "cloning." But practically every scientific authority disagrees with them, including the National Academies of Science and the American Medical Association. And a Missouri Appeals Court Judge wrote in March 2006 that "Nuclear transfer is cloning."

Amendment 2 doesn't actually "ban human cloning." It protects it.

There is also a concern for women who may be lured into selling their eggs for money, allowing them to be "harvested" from their ovaries after being given a large amount of hormones to produce as many as 15 eggs at once (instead of one at a time), a health risk in itself, not to mention the "harvesting" technique. In addition, according to "2Tricky.org," a loop-hole would be created by the amendment that would "shield cloning researchers from responsibility when women are injured or die while selling their eggs."

Another statement reads:

Last year the General Assembly of the United Nations declared, by a three-to-one margin, that the world's nations should "prohibit all forms of human cloning." Canada, Norway, France, Germany, Taiwan, and other countries have banned the same form of human cloning that Amendment 2 would permanently protect.

To visit the Life Communications Fund website, CLICK HERE.

To read the entire ballot measure of the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative follow the link below.