Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Candidates for Governor on Human Cloning

The Columbia Tribune reported yesterday on the views of the candidates for governor on human cloning. U.S. Representative Kenny Hulshof and state Treasurer Sarah Steelman are both opposed to human cloning, while Attorney General Jay Nixon opposes the Cures Without Cloning initiative.

Steelman and Hulshof voted against a ballot item that placed provisions in the Missouri Constitution that, among other things, prohibited the legislature from applying any regulations against stem cell research allowed by federal law.

The two also are opposed to somatic cell nuclear transfer. That process involves transferring an individual’s DNA to an unfertilized egg to grow stem cells that could be integrated into that person’s body. That creates an early stage embryo that must be destroyed to harvest embryonic stem cells.

Nixon, the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, supports abortion rights and condemned a ballot item submitted last year for circulation that would ban somatic cell nuclear transfer.

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