PRESS RELEASE

New Jersey Right to Life
113 North Avenue West
Cranford, NJ 07016

Contact: Marie Tasy
(732) 846-2000

SENATOR ROBERT SINGER SHOULD RECUSE HIMSELF FROM SENATE VOTE ON 2913, STEM CELL RESEARCH BOND ACT OF 2006

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS CITED

December 15, 2005--

The NJ Senate is scheduled to take up S2913, the Stem Cell Research Bond Act of 2006 today. Citing potential conflicts of interest, New Jersey Right to Life urges Senator Bob Singer (R-30) to recuse himself from voting on S2913. In addition to serving on the NJ Commission on Science and Technology which is the body designated under S2913 to allocate research money, Senator Singer is Vice President of Corporate Relations for Community/Kimball Medical Center, an affiliate of the St. Barnabas Health Care System in Livingston, NJ. St. Barnabas Hospital is located in Acting Governor Codey’s legislative district.

St. Barnabas Hospital is already performing medical research involving the genetic altering of human embryos and will be eligible to receive grants under S2913. In 2001, St. Barnabas Hospital published a study documenting the performance of the controversial and potentially dangerous ooplasmic transfer procedure. Ooplasmic transfer is a process where mitochondrial genes from the egg of one donor will be transferred to the egg of another and then implanted in the womb. This creates children with genes from three parents. Children born from this procedure developed a high incidence of Turner syndrome. Following the St. Barnabas announcement, the FDA notified all US fertility clinics known to be offering the procedure that further ooplasm transfer protocols could not proceed without FDA approval.

As a member of the Commission on Science and Technology, Senator Singer will be in a unique position to steer grant money to St. Barnabas Hospital and/or its affiliate, Kimball Medical Center, where he holds a high level management position. It would be a breach of professional and governmental ethics for Senator Singer to vote on this bill. He should recuse himself.
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