Yet, another one for Clone the Truth. Once again from Missouri. Here is the article and here is my letter:
Dear Editors,
I am writing to inform you of a error in terminology in Alan Scher Zagier's article titled, "Missouri court hears legal challenge to stem cell ballot measure," dated 1/19/06 as seen on KansasCity.com.
The article describes somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) as a procedure where "the nucleus of a human egg is replaced with the nucleus from a skin or nerve cell. The altered egg then is stimulated to grow in a lab dish, and researchers remove the resulting stem cells."
While it is true that scientists alter the egg, the product of SCNT is a cloned EMBRYO. It is the embryo that grows in the lab dish and it is from the embryo (not the "altered egg") that "researchers remove the resulting stem cells."
Please see this tutorial on SCNT by Princeton's Dept. of Molecular Biology that clearly shows that SCNT creates an embryo:
http://www.molbio.princeton.edu/courses/mb427/2001/projects/09/transfertutorial.htm
It is important that readers in Missouri understand SCNT so that they can make informed decisions. That requires the proper terminology. I therefore ask that you print a correction.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Taylor
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