Essential Estrogen

Senate File (SF) 115 is destined to become, at least in part, a household word. The fear is, however, that in some households it will be delegated to the equivalent of dirty words, whispered in the basement after the kids have gone to sleep.

The bill, sponsored by Democratic senators Joe Bolkcom, District 39, and Bob Dvorsky, District 15, (shame they couldn't/didn't get a woman to co-sponsor), is currently before the Human Resources Committee for discussion. At the heart of the discussion is the definition of cloning and to what lengths society will go to in order to prevent disease and cure illness. While critics of the bill (and the medical advances) will argue this bill effectively bans the Human Cloning Ban signed by former Gov. Tom Vilsack in 2002, the argument does not stand up to scrutiny. SF 115 provides further definition of that piece of the code to allow for scientific advances while still maintaining a ban on human cloning. In addition, the new bill provides penalties for those who do not abide by the ban.

No doubt those among us who believe sexual intercourse is only for procreation will have difficulty seeing the difference between merging cells for to produce embryonic stem cells and merging cells to produce a human. That, in essence, is the distinction this bill creates.

The ban on the cloning of humans remains in tact. The ban on creating embryonic stem cells is lifted so that our medical researchers can continue to work toward cures for cancer, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, diabetes and many other illnesses.

Please consider contacting the following members of the Human Resources Committee and urge them to send SF 115 to the floor:

• Amanda Ragan, Chair, D-District 7
• Becky Schmitz, Vice Chair, D-District 45
• James Seymour, Ranking Member, R-District 28
• Jerry Behn, R-District 24
• Nancy Boettger, R-District 29
• Joe Bolkcom, D-District 39
• William Dotzler, Jr., D-District 11
• Jack Hatch, D-District 33
• David Johnson, R-District 3
• Keith Kreiman, D-District 47
• Dave Mulder, R-District 2
• Herman Quirmbach, D-District 23
• Frank Wood, D-District 42