URGENT call to action [Fwd: Petition to protect "therapeutic cloning"] (fwd)

eugen@leitl.org

-- 
-- Eugen* Leitl leitl
______________________________________________________________
ICBMTO: N48 04'14.8'' E11 36'41.2'' http://www.leitl.org
57F9CFD3: ED90 0433 EB74 E4A9 537F CFF5 86E7 629B 57F9 CFD3
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 02 May 2002 14:02:01 -0500
From: Jeff Bone <jbone@jump.net>
To: fork@xent.com
Subject: URGENT call to action [Fwd: Petition to protect "therapeutic
    cloning"]
Hey guys --- the petition effort I copied to the list a couple of weeks
back has had some high-profile signatories, but unbelievably there have
only been 500 signatures!  I'm really surprised about that;  if you
haven't signed this, please give it serious consideration.
The Brownback bill is a disaster in principle and in practice.  It sets
a very dangerous precedent:  drastic criminalization of basic scientific
research.  After this --- with dubious justification at best --- what
could be next?  P2P communications systems?  Encryption research? 
Nanotech?  Quantum computing?  If you don't want to set a precedent that
legitimizes our legislature criminalizing any given technological or
scientific progress out of fear, ignorance, and misunderstanding ---
then you should sign this petition.
On a practical level, therapeutic cloning promises to be the most
significant medical technology to date.  The range and variety of
maladies treatable with cloned cell and cell structure replacement is
dramatic.  The economic impact of developing such capability is hard to
quantify but enormous:  many analysts and futurists believe that this
technology may be the most economically significant (foreseeable)
technology of this century, modulo the claims of AI and nanotech
proponents.  Criminalizing the basic, enabling research will only ensure
that it moves offshore, along with its attendant economic benefits.
Please take a minute and sign the petition at the very least, or fire up
your phone and call some of the swing vote senators listed below. 
Thanks in advance,
jb
-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Virginia Postrel <vpostrel@franklinsociety.org>
To: Virginia Postrel <vpostrel@dynamist.com>
Subject: Petition to protect "therapeutic cloning"
Date: 01 May 2002 23:25:17 -0500
Thanks for signing the Franklin Society's petition against a ban on
"therapeutic cloning." I'm pleased to say that we have more than 500
signatories, with Milton Friedman becoming the 500th today.
The momentum is moving strongly in our direction. As you may have heard, on
Tuesday Senator Orrin Hatch announced his opposition to a ban. A good
background article is here:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/746150.asp?0si=-&cp1=1#BODYThe vote will be extremely close, however, and I'm writing to ask you to
help make sure it goes in favor of keeping this potentially life-saving
medical research free from criminal sanctions.
1) Please ask at least two or three more friends or colleagues to sign the
petition, which we'll be officially releasing in a few days. (If you would
like some explanatory text to use, please reply to this message.)
2) If you have personal comments we can share with the media and/or
lawmakers, please reply to this message with your thoughts.
3) Please email or call your own senators' offices and ask them to vote NO
on  the Brownback-Landrieu bill, S. 1899, which would make therapeutic
cloning a crime punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison. Information
on how to contact your senator is here:
http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm
4) Please email, fax, or call any and all of the following senators' office
and ask them to vote NO on the Brownback-Landrieu bill, S. 1899. (Do not
send a regular letter; congressional mail delivery has been slowed
substantially since the anthrax scare.) These senators are all swing votes.
Some are less decided than others, but all need to hear from you:
Evan Bayh
202-224-5623
202-228-1377 (fax)
http://bayh.senate.gov/WebMail.html
Joseph Biden
202-224-5042
202-224-0139 (fax)
senator@biden.senate.gov
John Breaux
202-224-4623
202-228-2577 (fax)
senator@breaux.senate.gov
Robert Byrd
202-224-3954
202-228-0002 (fax)
senator_byrd@byrd.senate.gov
Thomas Carper
202-224-2441
202-228-2190 (fax)
http://carper.senate.gov/Contact/Email_Form/email_form.html
Max Cleland
202-224-3521
202-224-0072 (fax)
http://www.senate.gov/~cleland/webform.html
Thad Cochran
202-224-5054
202-224-3450 (fax)
senator@cochran.senate.gov
Susan Collins
202-224-2523
202-224-2693 (fax)
senator@collins.senate.gov
John Edwards
202-224-3154
202-228-1374 (fax)
http://www.senate.gov/~edwards/contact.html
Kay Bailey Hutchison
202-224-5922
202-224-0776 (fax)
http://hutchison.senate.gov/e-mail.htm
Richard Lugar
202-224-4814
202-228-0360 (fax)
senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov
John McCain
202-224-2235
202-228-2862 (fax)
john_mccain@mccain.senate.gov
Bill Nelson
202-224-5274
202-228-2183 (fax)
http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm#email
Gordon Smith
202-224-3753
202-228-3997 (fax)
http://www.senate.gov/~gsmith/webform.htm
Olympia Snowe
202-224-5344
202-224-1946 (fax)
olympia@snowe.senate.gov
Ted Stevens
202-224-3004
202-224-2354 (fax)
http://stevens.senate.gov/webform.htm
Strom Thurmond
202-224-5972
202-224-1300 (fax)
senator@thurmond.senate.gov
John Warner
202-224-2023
202-224-6295 (fax)
senator@warner.senate.gov
Thanks for letting your voice be heard on this important issue for our
future.
Sincerely,
Virginia Postrel
-- 
Virginia Postrel (vpostrel@franklinsociety.org)
Founder, The Franklin Society
Author, The Future and Its Enemies
http://www.franklinsociety.org | http://www.dynamist.com
(214) 219-5725 | (214) 219-1188 (fax)
--
Protect biomedical research. Sign our petition at
http://www.franklinsociety.org/petition.html
http://xent.com/mailman/listinfo/fork