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"It may just be that I've been a little preoccupied with the recent enactment of the (fiscal year) 2005 Budget>>

Slipping in the budget an INCREASE in fetal stem cell research money which will enable companies to use as seed money for their diabolical research. Cody, a Catholic, whose sister is a nun led the fight and sponsored legislation to make NJ the Cannibal State.

June 24, 2004

As reported in today's Star Ledger, the Legislature and Governor McGreeey increased funding of the NJ Stem Cell Institue to $11.5 Million in the state budget to be voted on today.

A link to the Star Ledger article is below.

http://www.nj.com/statehouse/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-1/108806103524670.xml

NEW JERSEY RIGHT TO LIFE URGES “NO” VOTE ON STATE BUDGET

LEGISLATURE AND GOVERNOR INCREASE TAXPAYER FUNDING OF UNETHICAL AND UNPROVEN RESEARCH TO $11.5 MILLION DESPITE PUBLIC OPPOSITION

As reported in today's Star Ledger, the Governor and his party leaders increased funding in the budget for the New Jersey Stem Cell Institute to $11.5 Million. Marie Tasy, Public & Legislative Affairs Director for New Jersey Right to Life, called the move "covert," and said it was part of an on-going campaign of this administration, "to cater to special interests while keeping the public in the dark."

“Throughout the legislative process on these bills, the legislative sponsors and Governor McGreevey stressed that the bill did not authorize public funding for this research and boldly denied the truth about this legislation,” said Tasy. “Now they are forcing this unethical research down the throats of the taxpayers.” Tasy urged legislators to reject the budget. “Funding this center is an outrageous breach of the public trust. It will impede progress that has already been made through the most promising avenues of research - adult stem cell research - and divert valuable resources away from this only effective means of providing cures for human illness and disease.”

Under legislation signed by Governor McGreevey in early January, now NJ Law, P.L. 2003, C.203, it is permissible for researchers to artificially manufacture and kill new human beings through cloning for research purposes. Tasy said she recently learned that the scientists who have been designated to manage the New Jersey Stem Cell Institute of NJ "wrote" the legislation.

As stated by numerous renowned national experts in the fields of law and bioethics, the NJ law authorizes the artificial manufacture of “new” human embryos through “somatic cell nuclear transplantation,” the same cloning technique used to create Dolly the Sheep. Furthermore, as analyzed, it will be legally permissible to now allow “reasonable payment” for the implantation of these new human embryos to be gestated and harvested for their organs and parts “through the embryo, fetal and newborn stages” as stated in the law. Although the law purports to ban human cloning, it in effect allows it up until the newborn stage, which means that it is okay to clone a human being through all stages of gestation as long as she or he is killed before reaching the “newborn stage.”

Tasy said, “NJ taxpayers should not be forced to fund the exploitation, manipulation and destructive experimentation of humans in the name of ‘science.’” A March 2004 Quinnipiac Poll confirms this sentiment among the majority of NJ voters. According to the poll, 48% of NJ citizens said they do not want their tax dollars used to fund this Stem Cell Institute.

As stated by Congressman Dave Weldon of Florida, who is also a medical doctor, in a speech made on the floor of the House of Representatives on June 17, “There have been no successful treatments of any humans with embryo stem cells, as I have said repeatedly on this floor, they do not have an animal model of successfully treating an animal with embryo stem cells.”

“New Jersey Right to Life, the state’s largest pro-life organization urges legislators to vote ‘No’ on the budget in its present form. Tasy said the legislature should instead allocate funds exclusively for adult stem cell research only, which has yielded many clinical successes. Tasy said that NJRTL will be scoring this vote and plans to make this information available to the public.

More information can be found on adult stem cell research by going to the following link which provides accurate information about the benefits of adult stem cell research vs. the false promises and dangers inherent in human embryonic stem cells.