life extension activism for the coming week; a small thing you can do to help

From: Reason (reason@exratio.com)
Date: Sat Mar 08 2003 - 15:35:33 MST

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    What's up for this week? Christopher Reeve -- an influential and wealthy
    advocate for medical research in the past -- has been speaking out recently
    against government legislation to criminalize research. He has spoken out
    against the bioethics council. In short, he is absolutely in our team, on
    our side of the field -- and probably one of the best-positioned people to
    actually make a difference.

    Have a look at this article:

    http://sci.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20893.html

    and position statements:

    http://www.christopherreeve.org/Research/R...chList.cfm?c=23
    http://www.christopherreeve.org/hopenetwor...cfm?ID=388&c=53.31.

    and more explanations on theraputic cloning:

    http://www.christopherreeve.org/hopenetwor...cfm?ID=411&c=53ter 

    What can we do to help? Well, we can encourage him for one. Tell him we're
    rooting for him; let him know that large numbers of people support his
    statements and stance. I urge you to read the article, and compose a short
    note to submit here:

    http://www.christopherreeve.org/feedback/feedback.cfm

    Ideal notes congratulate Christopher Reeve and his staff on their
    increasingly vocal support for stem cell research and let him know that we
    support his position (and wish we could have as much influence,
    damnit...well ok, maybe not that last part). Here's a sample (BUT DON'T CUT
    AND PASTE! WRITE YOUR OWN!)

    --------

    Dear Sirs,

    We were most impressed with Christopher Reeve's recent statements at the MIT
    and Harvard Hippocratic Societies' joint 2003 Conference on Neuroscience. It
    is very gratifying to see an advocate of his influence speaking out against
    the dangerous, cruel legislation and positions of the current US
    administration and the President's Council on Bioethics. There a great many
    people who share your views, but not your ability to speak and be heard, in
    the wider community. Everyone's future health will be hurt -- and hurt
    badly -- by future anti-research, anti-science legislation in medicine. More
    needs to be done to combat this trend.

    We salute you for taking this stance and speaking up: please continue to do
    so.

    Reason
    Founder, Longevity Meme
    reason@longevitymeme.org
    http://www.longevitymeme.org/

    --------

    As a last note, if anyone knows any journalists or influential bloggers,
    this story needs wider exposure. Prod them, point them in the direction,
    point out the excellent newsworthiness of this article -- ex-superman star,
    criticizing government, stem cells, the works! A bunch of hot topics all
    rolled into one. See if we can get this picked up further afield.

    Reason
    Founder, Longevity Meme
    reason@longevitymeme.org
    http://www.longevitymeme.org/

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