Proposed Recommendations on Cloning, Stem Cell Research, and Human Genome Experiments (Vanity)

Self | 4-1--04 | Beverly B. Nuckols, MD

[hocndoc]

Recommendation on Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, and Human Genome Manipulation.

We believe that all human beings have the right to life and that no discrimination can be made between which human lives deserve legal protection from killing by others and which do not, except when it is necessary to save the life of one human being that is endangered by another.

We believe that all embryos of human origin are members of the species Homo sapiens, that the embryo is a stage in the development of a member of the species rather than something that is “pre-human,” regardless of whether they began life by the intention of other humans or not, whether in the laboratory or in the womb. (Opitz, testimony to the President’s Bioethics Council) We believe in the medical charge, “First, do no harm,” and do not believe that scientists should engage in research that is designed to destroy humans at any stage of life or which may manipulate the human genome in such a way as to cause unknown genetic changes in the offspring of human beings. The possibility of changing the very humanity of those created in labs from human DNA is not a legacy we want to leave those who come after us.

We believe that a standard, proper vocabulary and research protocols consistent with the standard for human embryology (based on the internationally recognized Carnegie Staging nomenclature) for all natural, assisted and artificial reproduction - including in vivo and in vitro fertilization, asexual reproduction methods such as Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT or cloning), embryo splitting, parthenogenesis, the production of human-non-human chimeras, and all future variations - should be used by all researchers, policy making bodies, and medical professionals, in order to encourage open discussion and debate and ethical conclusions. Physicians have a particular duty to educate the public and our patients regarding medical research, and a standard nomenclature and protocols will assist us in that duty.

We believe that the terminology outlined in the United States’ President’s Bioethics Council is consistent with international standards for human embryologic terminology. This terminology has already been adopted by the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs and the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. The Report of the President’s Bioethics Council has affirmed that the cloned or parthenogenic human embryo is the genetic equivalent of the fertilized human embryo and that whether the human life began by design of other humans or by sexual or asexual means does not change the fact that they are, indeed, human embryos.

Recommendations

1. All research on cloning and cloned human beings, parthenogenotes, embryonic stem cells and all other methods of obtaining human embryos, stem cells, and research material that requires the destruction of human life or the manipulation of the human genome be stopped immediately and banned by our laws, professional organizations and associations, institutes of higher learning, and private businesses. 2. All previous conflicting policies of Medical Associations and laws of the United States be rescinded to reflect the views outlined above. 3. Tax funded research should focus on methods which do not require the killing of or genomic changes to members of the human species. Research on umbilical cord and adult stem cells and treatment of disease that does not risk changes to the human gene pool should be encouraged, instead.

For more information on stem cells, cloning, and human research:

The President’s Bioethics Council http://www.bioethics.gov/ Information on current human embryology, “ Early Embryonic Development: An Up-to-Date Account (Opitz)” http://www.bioethics.gov/transcripts/jan03/session1.html

The information on stem cells can be found at http://www.bioethics.gov/topics/stemcells_index.html

National Institute of Health on Stem Cells and cloning http://stemcells.nih.gov/infoCenter/stemCellBasics.asp

Current AMA policy on stem cell research http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/2036-7819.html Stem cell FAQs http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/5245-7264.html

[hocndoc]

Please feel free to suggest edits at will, and use as you can. Check back often to see whether someone else has suggested an improvement that you wouldn't want to miss.

[hocndoc]

Please forgive if unwanted, please pass on if interested.

[VRW Conspirator]

Yeah, cloning should be banned...except for Ann Coulter (heh-heh)

[First_Salute]

I have no doubt that the socialists will create a department sanctioned by liberal, "activist" judges, that will produce babies.

They will do it because they can.

The evil of fascist socialism --- unlimited government --- has returned because people are being made to fear for their lives in the absence of absolute government control over the thing that they are led to believe by the liberal media, is both scary and "something must be done about it."

Boo.

I'm scared, but more of unlimited government, than ever of the odds that I will not be happy by my daring choose self-determination.

Because I know that the spirit in man yearns to be free.

That will always conflict with the spirit-impaired who yearn to be secure at any price.

Nothing more ironic than mothers killing their babies in the name of having the right to choose, while disclaiming all other rights to choose by daring to live free from the tyranny of the socialist directorate to which they sold their souls in order to feel good about killing their babies.

I have a hunch that we have only a few more decades to correct, in our society, the holocaust of American women killing their babies, before the Almighty "lowers the boom."

I have a very strong hunch.

In fact, I am given to understand that my informed sources have that information correct.

Then again, we have only to ask forgiveness; incredible, isn't it?

Yet there again, who among the many who wish to not face the ricicule of their friends and "peers," will dare to defy their mob and be labled a lunatic because they sought God's love?

. . .

Put me down as opposed to any government or its parts, generating human tissue in any form.

I'm for medical research that finds the answers we want, though it may take longer, by not harvesting human beings.

I am opposed to harvesting human beings.

I am opposed to lawyers who will take any way of wording the law(s) to mean other than my opposition to our harvesting human beings.

The lawyers will bend the words to mean what the socialists want: harvesting and absolute control of human life under their uber-government protectorate/directorate.

No matter what words you lay down in the path of the socialist blitzkrieg that is laying waste to our American Heritage and culture, they will twist their way around the law, because we have become a lawless society by order of the courts.

We live in an anarchist nation, where the laws are only the law of the day, about which you read in the next morning's newspapers.

We are living under the threats and impositions from a government by judiciary.

Words used by the government and the government class, have no meaning, in terms of the usefulness of words in the rule of law, that they are fixed.

A law is not supposed to change by changing its meaning and/or by changing the meaning of the wording of the law.

Law is legally and lawfully to be changed by the agreed upon due process of governance that is democratic-republican.

So, again, put me down as opposed to government harvesting, though however you may word the law, it will not hold up in a court of law where the judges are picked by world socialism.

The definition of insanity is, killing your own baby because you reinterpret the meaning of life to be that your baby is not, life ... rather, that it is a nuisance to be extinguished.

Put down the cell phone, lady. You're drinking, driving, smoking, and having an abortion while trying to negotiate that turn!

[hocndoc]

Thanks for the bump, y'all. (and a ping to someone I forgot a while ago, sorry, Lite Keeper)

The President's Bioethics Council is chock full of fascinating information, transcripts of the Council meetings, and the beautiful work of Kass, et al, to describe what it means to be human. Sometimes I'm afraid that I may have to choose between that site and FR - I'm already losing sleep.


human life bump

[ASA Vet]

I'm still awaiting delivery of the Kobe Tai clone I ordered.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Ping for life.

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP - ETHICS - BIOETHICS

[neverdem]

Thanks for the ping. Bookmarked.

[hocndoc]

Thank you for the bump!

[MHGinTN]

Bump ... and kudos, Doctor. Time we speak out against cannibalizing fellow members of the human race at their earliest age.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[hocndoc]

Thank you. As as been said before, we stand on the shoulders of giants.

We can only hope that those who follow us feel the same way.

[hocndoc]

Thank you for taking the time to look!

[Alamo-Girl]

Life is a top priority in governance (or ought to be, IMHO). Hang in there. Eventually we will win this battle - whether by changing hearts or minds or by the self-attrition of the anti-life feminists who are gradually killing off their own future constituency by aborting them.

[hocndoc]

I'm just afraid that some changes in the actual humanity of the victims of stem cell research and genetic manipulation will be discovered too late or will be too horrific.

I'm also concerned that we've moved so far toward treating human lives as either cheap property or a "no-thing." (that last is thanks to a woman who lost her child due to abuse by her husband during her pregnancy. She said the doctors and nurses in the ER treated her as though she had lost some tissue, and that her child was a "no-thing." She helped Texas get our own Prenatal Protection Act.)

[Alamo-Girl]

Indeed. I am concerned about these things also.

[hocndoc]

Newest version, more concise, thanks to expert help from two of my heroes, Doris Gordon and Dianne Irving, Ph.D.





Recommendation on Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, and Human Genome Manipulation.

We affirm that all human beings have the right to life and that no discrimination can be made between which human lives in regard to the right to receive legal protection from being killed by others, since all human beings should have equal protection of their human rights under the law. The only justification for the ending of a human life is to defend the life of a human being that is endangered by another, a condition that cannot be applied to cases of cloning or embryonic stem cells.

It is a matter of scientific fact that all embryos of human origin are members of the species Homo sapiens, since the embryo is a stage in the development of a member of the species rather than something that is “pre-human,” (Opitz, testimony to the President’s Bioethics Council). This fact does not depend upon whether the human embryo began life by the intentions and actions of other humans or not, in the laboratory, in the fallopian tube, or in the uterus.

We firmly support the traditional medical charge, “First, do no harm,” and do not support the belief that scientists should engage in research that is designed to destroy humans at any stage of life or which may manipulate the human genome in such a way as to cause unknown genetic changes in the offspring of human beings. This is not a legacy we want to leave those who come after us.

A standard, proper vocabulary consistent with the standard for human embryology (based on the internationally recognized Carnegie Staging nomenclature) for all natural, assisted and artificial reproduction - including in vivo and in vitro fertilization, asexual reproduction methods such as Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT or cloning), embryo splitting, parthenogenesis, the production of human-non-human chimeras, and all future variations - should be used by all researchers, policy making bodies, and medical professionals, in order to encourage open discussion and debate and ethical conclusions. Physicians have a particular duty to educate the public and our patients regarding scientific research that may affect human lives and health, and a standard nomenclature and protocols will assist us in that duty.

The terminology outlined in Chapter 3 of the United States’ President’s Bioethics Council Report on Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry is consistent with international standards for human embryological terminology. This terminology has already been adopted by the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs, AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs and the National Institute of Health. The Report has affirmed that the cloned or parthenogenic human embryo is the genetic equivalent of the fertilized human embryo and that whether the human life began by design of other humans or by sexual or asexual means does not change the fact that they are, indeed, human embryos.



Recommendations:


1. All research on cloning and cloned human beings, parthenotes, embryonic stem cells and all other methods of obtaining or artificially constructing human embryos, stem cells, and research material that requires or depends on the destruction of human life or the manipulation of the human genome be stopped immediately and banned by our laws, professional organizations and associations, institutes of higher learning, and private businesses.


2. All previous conflicting policies of professional organizations, institutes of higher learning and private businesses, as well as the laws of the United States be rescinded to reflect the views outlined above.



3. Research should focus on methods which do not require the killing of or genomic changes to members of the human species. Research on umbilical cord and adult stem cells and treatment of disease that does not risk changes to the human gene pool should be encouraged, instead.



For more information on stem cells, cloning, and human research:

The President’s Bioethics Council
http://www.bioethics.gov/
Information on current human embryology, “ Early Embryonic Development: An Up-to-Date Account (Opitz)”
http://www.bioethics.gov/transcripts/jan03/session1.html

The information on stem cells can be found at
http://www.bioethics.gov/topics/stemcells_index.html

National Institute of Health on Stem Cells and cloning
http://stemcells.nih.gov/infoCenter/stemCellBasics.asp

Current AMA policy on stem cell research
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/2036-7819.html
Stem cell FAQs
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/5245-7264.html

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[MHGinTN]

Most excellently worded!Embryo is an age we have all gone through in our lifetime, just as neonate and toddler are also ages we have been through. An individual human life is a continuum with a defineable beginning (provable with the first division of the first cell of the 'at least' one organism--as opposed to the organ or subunit of an organ, as with gametes) and a recognizable ending, for life in the body. I'm still angry with Frist for his sell-out on embryonic stem cell exploitation.