204 
Monitoring Stem Cell Research 
establish a legislative task force, but its agenda is directed in a one- 
WHEREAS, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, stated 
this country understood that the personhood of every American should be 
protected "from the moment of conception until natural death"; and 
WHEREAS, the United States Patent and Trade Office rejected human 
commercialization in a ruling on April 7, 1987, which stated "A claim directed 
to or including v\hthin its scope a human being will not be considered to be 
patentable subject matter" under the federal patent law; and 
WHEREAS, on August 25, 2000, the National Institutes of Health published 
guidelines relating to stem cell research and the funding thereof that called 
for the denial of funding for research involving stem cells derived from 
embryonic human beings created for research purposes and noted that 
President Clinton, many members of Congress and the NIH Human Embryo 
Research Panel and the National Bioethics Advisory Committee had all 
endorsed the "distinction between embryos created for research purposes 
and those created for reproductive purposes"; and 
WHEREAS, the NIH guidelines also called for assurances that "there can be 
no incentives for donation" of human embryos and "any inducement for the 
donation of human embryos for research purposes" would be prohibited; and 
WHEREAS, George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States noted 
on August 9, 2001, that he is "deeply troubled" by the creation of "human 
embryos in test tubes solely to experiment on them," and described this act 
as a "warning sign" to "all of us" as Americans; and 
WHEREAS, Senator William Frist, distinguished physician representing the 
State of Tennessee in the United States Senate, has proposed as a first 
principle of ethical research that "the creation of human embryos solely for 
research should be strictly prohibited"; and 
WHEREAS, recently a Massachusetts research company claimed that it had 
cloned the first human embryo, that " ITJhis work sets the stage for humcin 
therapeutic cloning as a potentially limitless source of immime-compatible 
cells," and that this work provides "hope for people with spinal injuries, heart 
disease and other ailments"; and 
WHEREAS, the Jones Institute of Norfolk recently published research 
involving stem cell research conducted through the creation of 
approximately 110 embryos developed with the purchased sperm and eggs 
from men and women; and 
WHEREAS, this conduct established a trade in new human life that treats 
such lives as merchandise for manipulation and destruction; and 
WHEREAS, reportedly, the Jones Institute screened and evaluated the 
fitness of new human life according to the absence of "cosmetic handicaps, 
and other eugenic formulations"; and 
WHEREAS, the General Assembly of Virginia has, by way of HJR 607 of 2001, 
condemned past practices within the Commonwealth involving institutional 
involvement in eugenics and eugenic ideology; now, therefore, be it 
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That a joint 
subcommittee be established to study the mediceil, ethical, and scientific 
issues relating to stem cell research conducted within the Commonwealth." 
VA HJR 148. See also VA HJR 573. 
PRE -PUBLICATION VERSION 
