On February 10th, NJRTL scored a major victory when the "Clone and Kill" Bill was removed from the Assembly voting board due to lack of support. After instensive lobbying by NJRTL Legislative Director Marie Tasy and overwhelming public opposition to the bill, Assemblyman Neil Cohen, the bill's sponsor was unable to garner the necessary 41 votes for passage.

NJRTL is leading the effort to defeat this dangerous bill and considers the failure by the bill's proponents to garner enough support a major defeat for the human cloning industry.

"The holding of the bill is a major defeat for Governor McGreevey, who announced in his State of the State address just days ago that the "Clone and Kill" bill is a top priority of his administration," noted NJRTL Legislative Director Marie Tasy.

Although the measure can be taken up at a later date, the fact that a bill scheduled to be voted on is taken off legislative agenda clearly indicates the momentum is with NJRTL and those who oppose human cloning.

Gruesome Bill Encourages Body Part Harvesting from Cloned Babies. Legal experts agree that
New Jersey would become first state to have human clones born.

Summary:
S1909/A2840 allows human reproductive cloning. This legislation opens a Pandora’s box where human embryo and human fetal farms, human experimentation, and reproductive human cloning will be allowed to flourish. This legislation will set New Jersey on an irresponsible and disastrous course leading to the commercialization of women’s eggs and wombs and pose serious health risks to the lives of children created by cloning technology.

Status:
The State Senate passed S1909 on December 16, 2002. The vote may be rescheduled in the Assembly and has the support of Gov. McGreevey. Please act on this alert immediately to help defeat this legislation.

Background:
A careful review by NRJTL, which included consultations with leading legal and legislative experts, demonstrates that the legislation goes far beyond what was anticipated or proposed at even the federal level. In addition to allowing human embryonic experimentation, S1909, in its current form, currently includes a process known as "somatic cell nuclear transplantation." This is cloning for biomedical experimentation, also known as "clone and kill." This specific cloning technique was left in at the urging of former actor and now political activist Christopher Reeve who came to testify at the November 25th hearing.

Does somatic cell nuclear transplantation constitute cloning of a human being?

According to a July 2002 report by the President's Council on Bioethics, ". . whatever the reason for producing it - the initial product of somatic cell nuclear transfer is a living (one-celled) cloned human embryo. The immediate intention of transferring the nucleus is precisely to produce just such an entity; one that is alive (rather than nonliving), one that is human (rather than nonhuman or animal), and one that is an embryo, an entity capable only of replication into an articulated organismic whole (rather than just a somatic cell capable only or replication into more of the same cell type). This is the intended primary product of performing somatic cell nuclear transfer, whether the ultimate motive or purpose is producing a live-born child from the cloned embryo or conducting scientific research on the cloned embryo. Also, the blastocyst stage that develops from this one-celled cloned embryo will be the same being, whether it is then transferred to a woman's uterus to begin a pregnancy or is used as a source of stem cells for research and possible therapy for others."

The bill purports to prohibit the cloning of a human being and provides that a person who knowingly engages or assists, directly or indirectly, in the cloning of a human being is guilty of a crime of the first degree. However, the bill defines the "cloning of a human being" to mean the replication of a human individual by cultivating a cell with genetic material through the egg, embryo, fetal and newborn stages into a new human individual." Unlike federal versions of "clone and kill" legislation, S1909 do not specifically ban the implantation of the cloned human embryo into the uterus of a woman.

Since the bill defines a cloned human being at the newborn stage, which means after birth, it would allow a cloned living human being to be implanted into a uterus at the embryonic stage and harvested for research and killed at any time from the embryonic period through the ninth month of pregnancy. The bill would actually mandate that an abortion be performed because the prohibited conduct draws the line only at the newborn stages - i.e., after birth. It would make criminals out of women, researchers, doctors, or any "person who knowingly engages or assists, directly or indirectly" in allowing the cloned human child to be born.

Legal Experts Agree that this Legislation will Lead to the Birth of Human Clones

During the December 16th Senate voting session, many Republican Senators made the assertion that this legislation is nothing new because this research is already being conducted in NJ. It is important to note that although some research may be conducted with private funds, this legislation is new for the following reasons: For the first time in the state of NJ, couples undergoing fertility treatments will be able to donate their human embryonic children for lethal scientific experimentation. In addition, it will establish in law that an individual human being does not exist until the newborn stage. It will allow the creation of cloned human beings to be implanted into a uterus at the embryonic stage and grown up until the ninth month of gestation for the express purpose of destroying them to harvest their organs and cells. It would require partial birth abortions and other types of abortions up to the ninth month of pregnancy because the prohibited conduct says you can't bring the cloned child to term and draws the line at the newborn stage. Furthermore, legal experts agree that the legislation would not prevent a woman from choosing to give birth to a cloned baby, the legislation’s is unenforceable under current federal and New Jersey case law.

Immediate Action Needed

Action:
Contact your 2 Assembly members immediately. Urge them to vote "no" on S1909/A2840 in its entirety.
Please activate your phone, fax and e-mail networks immediately. Contact the Office of Legislative Services to find out who your state legislators are at 1-800-792-8630 or go the legislature's webpage at:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp

Message for your two assembly members:
Please vote “No” on S1909/A2840. This legislation is riddled with loopholes. It will advance, not ban human reproductive cloning. The bill goes way beyond allowing couples undergoing infertility treatments to donate their unused embryos for research. This legislation opens a Pandora’s box where human embryo and human fetal farms, human experimentation, and human cloning will be allowed to flourish. It would be highly irresponsible for the state of New Jersey to proceed with this type of Frankenstein science. Embryonic stem cells have not helped a single human being, and in fact, have led to mutation, tumor formation and tissue rejection. Alternative forms of stem cells using umbilical cord blood, bone marrow, placenta, neural, muscle, fat, etc. are already curing human illnesses and avoid issues of rejection and cancer formation inherent in embryonic stem cells. Please vote "No" on S1909/A2840.