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William
F. Bolan, Jr., J.D.
Executive Director
March
6, 2006
A
C T I O N A L E R T
ISSUE &
POSITION The Bishops are opposed to S-1471, which provides $150 million to fund the Stem Cell Institute to be run by Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and $50 million to the facility to be run by a joint venture between Rutgers and the Coriell Institute for Medical Research.
Bishops have consistently opposed the human embryonic stem cell research legislation on the basis that creation and destruction of human embryonic stem cells violate the sanctity of human life. In their written statement on that legislation, they said, it is more important than ever to stand for the principle that government must not treat any living human being as research material, as a mere means for benefit to others. Research that relies on the destruction of some defenseless human being for the possible benefit to others is morally unacceptable.
However, the Catholic Bishops do support research on
adult (non-embryonic) stem cells. Adult (non-embryonic) stem cells come from
adult tissue, placentas, or umbilical cord blood and can be retrieved without
harming the donor. Adult (non-embryonic)
stem cells have helped thousands of patients, and new clinical uses expand
almost weekly. After two decades of
research, embryonic stem cells have not helped a single human being. (See, for example, www.stemcellresearch.org). Thus, the burdens of those failures are being
placed on the backs of the taxpayers in
ACTION: Contact Governor Jon Corzine, your State Senator and two Assembly members and deliver the following message:
I am opposed to legislation which
funds construction of the Stem Cell Institute and
stem cell research grants.
You may contact the Governor as follows: Telephone (609) 292-6000,
Fax (609) 292-3454, or E-mail at: www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail.html.
If you do not know who your Senator or Assembly members are, call the Office of Legislative Services at 800-792-8630 or go to the Legislative Website at: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/.
Representing the Archdiocese of
Diocese of
Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Diocese