At its annual meeting in June 2002, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) strongly endorsed legislation in the US Senate known as "The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2002." That bill defines a national approach toward cloning that bans reproductive cloning, or the creation of a child, and supports therapeutic cloning, which holds promise to cure many diseases, including diabetes.

In therapeutic cloning scientists transplant a person's DNA into an unfertilized egg in order to grow stem cells that the person's body would not reject. This technique could be used, for example, to provide replacement islet cells and tissue that allow the pancreas to function again in producing insulin. That would be, in essence, a cure for diabetes.

Scientists do many kinds of cloning every day, most of which is commonly accepted. Cloning has allowed scientists to develop powerful new drugs and to produce insulin in the lab. It also allows researchers to track the origins of biological weapons, catch criminals and free innocent people. It is only reproductive cloning that is controversial; ADA's position is that it is unsafe and unethical and should be banned.

People who support therapeutic cloning and are in favor of this legislation can express their support by writing to their senators and urging a positive vote on Senate Bill 2349.

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Source:  ADA. Update - ADA Position Statement on SCNT (Therapeutic Cloning). June 16, 2002.