Ban Human Cloning!

Human cloning is supposed to be a way to produce a genetic twin of a human being without sexual reproduction. It is done by taking genetic material from a person’s body cell and injecting it into an egg, which is then stimulated to begin embryonic development. The cloned embryo is almost identical genetically.

Cloning is the ultimate dehumanizing of human reproduction. New human lives are made in the laboratory, tailored to preset specifications to be mere carriers of genetic traits that others find useful. The usual meanings of “father” and “mother” do not apply to these cloned humans. Although fully human, deserving of the dignity bestowed on each of us, these humans would be used for spare parts, experimentation, testing, and ultimately destined for destruction.

Trials in animal cloning indicate that 95% to 99% of he embryos produced by cloning will die; of those which survive until late in pregnancy, most will be stillborn or die shortly after birth; and the rest may survive with unpredictable but devastating health problems. Almost all scientists and ethicists therefore agree at this time that attempts at reproductive human cloning would be grossly unethical.

No. Medical research using stem cells from adult tissue, placentas, etc. (see www.stemcellresearch.org) continues to be very promising. This type of research is both ethical and successful for therapeutic research.

A conservative estimate of the number of human eggs needed to treat 16 million diabetes patients would be.... minimum of 800 million human eggs. A minimum of 80 million OF CHILDBEARING AGE would have to donate their eggs.

If we go down the path of embryonic research where human life is ordered for manufacturing, society will never be the same. Our genetics will be molded and changed to agree with what the rest of society believes to be acceptable. If that life is not deemed ‘worthy’ or ‘adequate’ it will be destroyed and people alive today will be graded and compared to those that can be created.

If we allow human cloning or embryonic research to go forward without question or debate, the floodgates will be opened and the devaluation of human life will vastly increase. The culture of death will accelerate at a much greater pace than it ever has before, and life will be considered as property.

It is the nature of a scientist to want complete freedom to experiment at will, and for the most part, we gladly give them that freedom. However, we must insist that scientists accept the core ethic of our country and the need for limits when that ethic is threatened. Scientists can always find bioethicists to justify their desires, but they must not be allowed to avoid ethical responsibilities. Just because research can be done, doesn’t mean it should be done.

Some people want to use cloning to produce live-born children who are “copies” of living or deceased people. Others would use it to mass-produce human embryos to be destroyed in medical research. The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001 (S. 790, H.R. 2505) will ban human cloning for either purpose. The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed H.R. 2505. That measure or its Senate companion (S. 790) awaits a Senate vote. President Bush says he will sign the act into law.

Human cloning is an effort to create humans as “copies” of other humans. It is done by taking genetic material from a person’s body cell and injecting it into an egg, which is then stimulated to begin embryonic development. The cloned embryo is almost identical genetically to the person whose body cell was used.

Human cloning is wrong, because it dehumanized human reproduction. All cloning treats human beings as products, as mere carriers of traits that others find useful. Cloning human embryos for research (so-called “therapeutic cloning”) demeans life, by creating new human lives solely to destroy them. Cloning embryos for live birth (so-called “reproductive cloning”) violates human dignity, robbing the child of a real mother and father and of his or her own personal destiny. Moreover, attempts at live birth will require the “trial and error” deaths of countless human embryos. Dolly the cloned sheep was born after 276 failed attempts. The few cloned humans who survive may suffer from devastating health problems.

Banning only so-called “reproductive” cloning (the live birth of human clones) is wrong, because it authorizes cloning to make embryos so they can be killed for experimentation. This is not a ban on cloning at all. It allows cloning, then requires all cloned humans to be killed at a certain stage. This approach is not even effective in preventing the birth of clones: Once cloned embryos are readily available in laboratories, they will easily be implanted in wombs; then the only way to enforce the ban will be to force women to undergo abortions.

A full ban on human cloning will not interfere with medical research, because cloning embryos for stem cell experimentation is increasingly recognized as a wasteful, unreliable and unnecessary path to medical research. The most beneficial stem cell research today uses stem cells from adult tissue, umbilical cords and other sources that involve no harm to human life. New cures for disease can be pursued without creating human lives in the laboratory solely to destroy them.

The effective and morally acceptable way to prevent human cloning is to forbid its use to make new humans in the first place. The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001 (S. 790, H.R. 2505) will achieve this important goal.