By Hilary White
JEFFERSON CITY, December 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two Missouri legislators are revisiting the recently passed amendment to the state constitution that allowed human clones to be created for medical experiments. Rep. Jim Lembke of St. Louis and Sen. Matt Bartle of Lee’s Summit announced today that they are launching another proposal that they hope will put an end to the creation of cloned human beings for medical research in their state.
At the November 7 mid-term election, voters approved a ballot initiative, Amendment 2, that made creating a cloned human embryo for use in destructive medical experiments a constitutional right. The amendment passed by only a razor thin majority of 51-49 percent, after its deceptive language was revealed as well as its potential for exploitation of women for their ova.
Lembke told reporters, “Our focus is to ban all human cloning, including research cloning.” Bartle said that public opposition to the amendment is growing now that Missourians are finding out what it means.
Rep. Lembke said that he and Bartle would be presenting a genuine ban on the creation of cloned human beings. “Senator Bartle and I are proud to introduce joint resolutions that will give Missouri voters an opportunity to make sure human beings are not cloned in Missouri.”
“Current Missouri law contains gaping loopholes that allow scientists to clone human beings,” he said.
Bartle added, “Most Missourians do not want to constitutionally protect human cloning. What we are proposing today is a genuine ban on human cloning.”
Amendment 2 used the now-standard bait-and-switch tactic of presenting a “prohibition” that said, “No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.” In later clauses, it allowed the creation of embryos by “somatic cell nuclear transfer,” a cloning method.
Voters were not shown the entire 2400 word amendment at the polls, but were only able to read a 100-word ballot summary that used the same deceptive language which made no mention of two other provisions regarding “financial reimbursement” for human ova.
The issue garnered huge publicity when actor and Parkinson’s sufferer Michael J. Fox made a celebrity endorsement, appearing in an ad and then on several national television talk shows to promote the proposal. Fox heads a research foundation for Parkinson’s that supports embryonic stem cell research.
Most of the funding promoting the proposal came from billionaire couple Jim and Virginia Stowers who spent nearly $30 million through the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures.
Called in the press a “grassroots” organization, the Coalition’s spokesman, Donna Rubin, told media today that the attempt to overturn the amendment was “nothing but an attempt by a few politicians to push their failed agenda of outlawing stem cell research and cures in our state.”
Jim Stowers is CEO of American Century Investments, a firm with a $100 billion portfolio that stands to gain enormous profits with the new amendment in place. The Stowers Institute conducts non-profit biomedical research and has formed a for-profit branch, BioMed Valley Discoveries Inc., that will “patent, develop and market the discoveries of the Stowers Institute,” and its partners, to pharmaceutical and medical giants such as Pfizer and Merck.
97% of Funding for Missouri Embryo Research Bill from Giant Biotech Company Which Stands to Profit Big
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/nov/06110602.html