GE – Our Response Letter

April 12, 2005

General Electric Shareholder and Investor Communications
Attention:  William Cary, VP
3135 East Turnpike

Fairfield, CT  06828

Dear Mr. Cary and Ms. Berardi,

As long-time shareholders of General Electric stock, my husband and I are sick to learn, as announced in the Wall Street Journal today, that you intend to pursue embryonic stem cell research. (ESCR) With all the good things GE has done over the years, we were always proud to be shareholders in what we thought was a company that truly cared about its shareholders and the public.

I cannot understand why you would pursue this immoral research when clearly, the promise of success lies in Adult Stem Cell Research. ASCR has already been used successfully to treat over 3500 human beings suffering from a host of diseases, including heart disease, brain disorders, diabetes, spinal injury, lymphoma, breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and a host of auto-immune diseases. These stem cells are being taken from bone marrow, fat cells, retinal cells, umbilical cord – even hair follicles and nasal cells. There are Phase II clinical trials going on right now to treat Parkinson’s disease using patients own bone marrow to grow neural cells and Phase I trials for treating heart disease. It is amazing that GE would want to invest in embryonic research that requires the deliberate destruction of human beings when there are moral alternatives that can and should be pursued.   In the statement you sent me, it reads: “GE Healthcare will not be associated with the primary harvest of human embryo-derived cells or tissues.”  That does not make your research moral – it is a bit like hiring a hit man to do the murdering while you use the remains for your own purpose.

This action on your part leaves us no other choice but to sell our stock (at a huge loss) immediately.  As the Executive Director of Children of God for Life – a pro-life organization focused on bioethics of aborted fetal and embryonic research and human cloning, I can assure you that we will advise millions of others nationwide to do the same.

I certainly hope you will reconsider your decision, because it is a terrible investment on your part both morally and financially – one that we, and all pro-life Americans, cannot take part in.  I look forward to your immediate response.

Sincerely,

Debra L Vinnedge

Executive Director