Amendment 2 clear on stem-cell facts

To the editor:

I keep reading letters with assertions about what Amendment 2 does and does not allow. The language of the proposed amendment is clear enough to be quoted and understood. The first paragraph of the amendment contains the following language on limitations to the research allowed:

"(1) No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.

"(2) No human blastocyst may be produced by fertilization solely for the purpose of stem cell research.

"(3) No stem cells may be taken from a human blastocyst more than fourteen days after cell division begins; provided, however, that time during which a blastocyst is frozen does not county against the fourteen-day limit.

"(4) No person may, for valuable consideration, purchase or sell human blastocysts or eggs for stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures.

"(5) Human blastocysts and eggs obtained for stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures must have been donated with voluntary and informed consent, documented in writing."

As John Adams famously said: "Facts are stubborn things."

JOHN L. COOK, Cape Girardeau