South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Amendment 2 would open a Pandora’s box, reader contends

To the editor:

Amendment 2 is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The amendment on the Missouri ballot in November is misleading, deceptive, would change the Missouri Constitution drastically and open a Pandora’s box.

Missourians for Cures claim none of this is true. Their literature even states it. However, the amendment they are proposing says otherwise.

According to the amendment, somatic cell nuclear transfer is not cloning. However, medical science clearly states that embryos created by somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, are human clones. SCNT is the procedure that produced Dolly the Sheep.

The full amendment is four pages long. The ballot wording is 115 words, which begs the question: What is being left out of the ballot wording that lies hidden in the full four-page amendment? Their definition of cloning, for one.

Amendment 2 “changes, repeals, and/or modifies” 45 sections of the Missouri Con-stitution. It takes away legislative oversight, has loopholes that will allow for taxation without representation, will negatively affect women and allows for cloning and killing, greatly devaluing life from its earliest stages.

It will take money away from much more promising research — adult stem-cell re-search. There is nothing good about this amendment. It is totally deceptive.

The secretary of state’s Web site, www.sos.mo.gov/elections/2006petitions, lists the ballot wording and full amendment. So does www.nocloning.org.

Another Web site, www.moroundtable.org, gives an analysis of the amendment.

Cynthia Trebus

Oakville

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