Amidst Other Issues, Ban on Human Cloning Still a Major Item

AgapePress ^ | February 4, 2003 | Bill Fancher and Jody Brown

[Remedy]

Facts are Being Ignored, Proponents of Ban Say

Debate on Capitol Hill continues on several important national issues: the economy, the pending war with Iraq, partial-birth abortion, and of course, the recent shuttle tragedy. But not to be lost in the mix is another of particular concern to Christians and pro-life advocates -- human cloning.

The White House has officially announced that it will push Congress for a bill banning all human cloning. President Bush's chief advisor Karl Rove says the bill will be a priority. Those opposed to human cloning welcome the news, saying it is time to ban the dangerous process.

Since "Dolly" the sheep was cloned several years ago, the cloning bandwagon has had to expand to hold all the advocates who promise wonderful benefits that have yet to be proven. Also yet to be proven are the claims in the last two months by a religious cult that it has successfully cloned the first human babies.

Dr. David Stevens is executive director of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. Stevens opposes cloning, saying it is too dangerous to potential patients who might take advantage of the process.

"Cloned cells are not normal -- we know that from animal studies," Stevens says. "Thirty to forty percent of cloned animals that are born have large-offspring syndrome, enormous livers [and] tongues, underdeveloped lungs -- and they die almost immediately. There's a high risk of mutation. I would not want cloned cells put in my body."

Stevens also quotes Ian Wilmut, the creator of Dolly, who said: "We're beginning to doubt if any clone is normal."

Stevens says cloning is also very dangerous to women, whose eggs would have to be harvested in order to make the process work.

'Don't Confuse the Issue with Facts'
As the cloning debate rages in the halls of Congress, the facts are being ignored. Florida Representative Dr. Dave Weldon expressed that concern at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, DC.

Weldon, a co-sponsor of the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2003 -- introduced in the U.S. House in early January -- said both the advocates of human cloning and reports in the media promise great benefits, but ignore the truth.

"You would think that they could stand up before a group like this, refer to the literature, and show you the great promise they claim will come from embryo stem cells, from cloned embryo stem cells in curing all these conditions," he says.

"But I stand before you today as a physician. I still read the medical literature, and I can tell you that not only is there no evidence to back-up their claim, the research actually shows the opposite."

Testifying before a Senate subcommittee last week, Weldon stated claims of medical benefits to be derived from human cloning are unfounded.

"Many advocates for research cloning have advanced the notion that we need to allow it because of the so-called potential of therapeutic cloning," the congressman said. "This potential has been based on speculation, exaggeration, and with no scientific facts. There are not even animal models to back up the claimed promises."

And like Dr. Stevens, Weldon has stated in the past that human cloning will "commercialize" women's eggs and wombs, poses serious threats to the cloned child-to-be, and violates human dignity.

Weldon and Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan are hopeful the 108th Congress will act quickly on their proposed legislation because of widespread public concern surrounding the ethics of human cloning procedures.

[Remedy]

The Right to Patent a Human Being: Fact, Fiction, or Future Possibility? - Paige Cunningham

Therapeutic Cloning: An Oxymoron - Amy Coxon

Why Human Cloning Must Be Banned Now - US Congressman Dave Weldon

Human Cloning and the Ethics of Inevitability - William P. Cheshire

This Little Piggy Goes to the Organ Market? Cloning, Genetic Engineering, Xenotransplantation and the Drive to Be First - Nancy L. Jones

Cloning Humans: Leon Kass and Kevin FitzGerald on the "Post-Human Future" - Linda Bevington

Unless We Act Now, More Clones Will Die - C. Ben Mitchell

Human Cloning-Embryo Style: Deliverance or Captivity? - Nancy L. Jones

Human Cloning is Here - John F. Kilner

The Coming Clone Age - C. Ben Mitchell

CBHD's Testimony on Cloning Before The Illinois Senate Executive Subcommittee - August 31, 1999 - C. Ben Mitchell

Stem Cell Research and "Therapeutic" Cloning - Linda Bevington

Human Cloning Overview - John Kilner

Cloning and Stem Cell Research - Donal O'Mathuna

Human Cloning: Reproduction or Procreation? - John Kilner

[boris]

"The White House has officially announced that it will push Congress for a bill banning all human cloning."

Of course this is not possible.

Human cloning can be banned, I suppose, in the U.S.

In which case it will be conducted offshore, in Europe or Asia.

The genie is out of the bottle; now we gotta figure out how to deal with the situation. "Banning" is not an option--unless you first conquer the planet.

Hell, we can't even stop drugs from being smuggled in through our porous borders. Let's get real.

--Boris