Mel Gibson, Others Hope 'Clone and Kill' Bill Crashes and Burns
by Jody Brown
November 1, 2004
(AgapePress) - When California voters enter the voting booth on Tuesday, some of them may take with them the voice of Mel Gibson telling them to vote against a controversial ballot measure.It may have an inviting title -- "The California Stem Cell and Cures Initiative" -- but if passed by the voters, Proposition 71 would establish constitutional rights to conduct embryonic stem-cell research. Critics have dubbed it "the clone and kill bill." The measure would also authorize general obligation bonds up to $3 billion that, according to the state attorney general's office, would cost about twice that much for taxpayers to repay over the next 30 years.
Backers of the measure include the American Diabetes Association, Catholics for a Free Choice, and the California Medical Association. Opponents include Concerned Women for America, and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Campaign for California Families, the group Doctors, Patients and Taxpayers for Fiscal Responsibility -- and movie actor and producer Mel Gibson.
Gibson, producer of The Passion of the Christ, has just released a 53-second radio commercial that is now airing in the Golden State in both English and Spanish. In his own voice, Gibson challenges the arguments in favor of embryonic stem-cell research, which the bill would authorize, and charges that voters are being "misled into thinking [it] isn't about cloning" when it is, says Gibson.
Listen to the Mel Gibson ad
In the ad, the popular actor asks -- and then answers -- a critical question: "If cloning human embryos for destruction is so promising, why aren't private companies paying the $6 billion? Because in 23 years, [animal] embryonic stem-cell research has not produced a single human cure. All it yielded is tumors, rejection, and mutations. See, bad science doesn't attract venture capital; so why should the taxpayers be bled dry?"
After telling listeners he plans to vote against Prop. 71, Gibson concludes the ad with: "Creating life simply to destroy it is wrong -- particularly when there are effective alternatives readily available."
As the ad points out, those alternatives include research on adult and umbilical cord stem cells, which have led to cures in more than 300,000 cases.
Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family interviewed Gibson on Dobson's daily radio program on Monday (November 1) about the actor's outspoken opposition to Prop. 71. Like Gibson, Dobson points out that the "true promise" for treatment and cures lies with adult stem-cell research.
"The National Institutes of Health reports at least 74 diseases treatable by adult stem cells," Dobson says, adding those advances require neither cloning nor destruction of human embryos. "Sacrificing the tiniest members of the human family on the altar of science -- and questionable science at best -- is nothing short of state-funded cannibalism."
Among the diseases treatable with adult stem cells are Parkinson's disease, Sickle Cell anemia, heart damage, and corneal damage. LifeNews.com also reports that researchers with the University of Toronto have made a discovery using adult stem cells that could return the gift of good eyesight to people suffering from macular degeneration.
