COHEN ASSAILS RIGHT-TO-LIFE’S ATTEMPT TO BLOCK STEM-CELL RESEARCH

(ROSELLE) – Assembly Deputy Speaker Neil M. Cohen today called for Democrats and Republicans to join hands in fighting the New Jersey        Right-to-Life’s lawsuit seeking to block this year’s ballot referendum asking voter approval for a proposed $450 million stem cell research bond fund.

“This lawsuit is an insult to the intelligence of New Jersey residents,” said Cohen (D-Union), who sponsored the stem-cell bond referendum. “This legal challenge at the 11th hour of the process is disgraceful and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should denounce it.”

Cohen refuted arguments raised in the lawsuit, which claims that funding would pay for human cloning and that debt would paid by property taxes. Cohen said the referendum legislation specifically prohibited funding work on human cloning and state law already makes human cloning a second-degree crime. He said the legislation contains the standard language that has been used in every bond issue for the past 70 years and will not trigger higher property taxes.

“This lawsuit flies in the face of decency,” said Cohen. “Lawmakers in both major parties need to close ranks and declare if they side with the parties mounting this frivolous lawsuit or the thousands of state residents who need cures for Alzheimer’s, diabetes and other incurable diseases.”

Cohen noted that polls show the vast majority of New Jersey residents support stem-cell research.  He cited a July Quinnipiac Poll that found 71 percent of residents support stem-cell research and 65 percent support making New Jersey a national leader in such research. The poll also found 68 percent of residents oppose President Bush’s ongoing efforts to block embryonic stem cell research.

“New Jerseyans suffering from incurable diseases and untreatable injuries deserve every opportunity to be made whole again,” said Cohen. “Scientific discovery should not be held hostage by the ideological hang-ups of a select few. For the sake of all of our neighbors, the individuals mounting this lawsuit should get out of the way of process.”

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