No it's not. The ballot measure reads as follows:
Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to allow and set limitations on stem cell research, therapies, and cures which will:
- ensure Missouri patients have access to any therapies and cures, and allow Missouri researchers to conduct any research, permitted under federal law;
-ban human cloning or attempted cloning;
-require expert medical and public oversight and annual reports on the nature and purpose of stem cell research;
-impose criminal and civil penalties for any violations; and
prohibit state or local governments from preventing or discouraging lawful stem cell research, therapies and cures?
Cloning is banned. Talent is against it, McCaskill is for it which is why Fox is campaigning for her. The amendment should pass by a considerable margin, if polls be accurate.
Are you sure that the words "stem cell" are used and not something like "somatic nuclear transitioning" or something like that? This sounds nothing like what Rush was reading today on his show.....
They define cloning as taking the products of SCNT and implanting them in a woman's womb. They play the game of saying it's not cloning if there is no intent to implant.
In other words, they are trying their best to deceive the public, and it looks like it's working.
http://www.mocatholic.org/StemCell-Cloning/QandAHumanCloning.htm
(snip)
Doesn’t Amendment 2 involve stem cell research? Yes, but it involves a lot more. Instead of focusing on morally acceptable and effective research with adult stem cells, the amendment pushes Missouri into embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.
What is morally wrong with embryonic stem cell research? As the term implies, it entails experimentation on human embryos – human life at the earliest stage of development. These experiments destroy human embryos for research purposes.
Does Amendment 2 pose harm to anyone besides human embryos? Yes. The proposal would allow the cloning industry to pay women who donate their eggs for research. In order to harvest the eggs, researchers would have women undergo invasive surgical procedures that are not risk free and can lead to serious health complications.
Isn’t stem cell research curing many dreaded diseases? The cures you are hearing about are coming from adult stem cell research – research that is underway now in Missouri and does not require the passage of a constitutional amendment or the harvesting of eggs from women. In contrast, the embryonic stem cell research promoted by this constitutional amendment has yet to lead to a single cure for any human disease.
Does Amendment 2 ban human cloning? No. The 100 word ballot summary voters will see upon entering the voting booth states that the proposal bans human cloning, but this is false. The ballot summary is relying upon a scientifically inaccurate definition of human cloning found in the full text of the proposal, which voters will not see when entering the voting booth. If voters could read the full text, they would know that human cloning is being authorized in the form of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).
Does Amendment 2 include a tax increase? Although the proposed amendment does not call for a tax increase, it authorizes the use of your tax dollars to subsidize human cloning and embryonic stem cell research. This could lead to budget cuts to other programs like health coverage for the poor or alternatives to abortion.
Why haven’t I heard these facts before? The cloning industry, funded primarily by principals of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, has spent over $16 million dollars on a lavish media campaign and plan to spend millions more. There is no legal requirement that these ads tell the truth. Cloning backers are misleading voters and seeking to buy the election so they can access tax dollars for their research.
Your tax dollars and the cloning amendment:
Who would receive the cloning money provided by taxpayers under Amendment 2? State cloning grants could be provided to private research institutions like the Stowers Institute in Kansas City and Washington University in St. Louis as well as public institutions like the University of Missouri.
Without a tax increase, how could tax money be used for human cloning? Passage of this constitutional amendment would send a message to the state legislature that embryonic stem cell research and human cloning are top priorities for voters. State lawmakers would have a mandate to appropriate money out of state general revenue to fund these activities.
This is the definition of cloning:
(2) “Clone or attempt to clone a human being” means to implant in a uterus or attempt to implant in a uterus anything other than the product of fertilization of an egg of a human female by a sperm of a human male for the purpose of initiating a pregnancy that could result in the creation of a human fetus, or the birth of a human being.
A lot of holes in there. And why the heck should this crud be in the MO Constitution? Also I would not believe the polls. I think it will pass, but it won't pass by the numbers that they think it will.