U.S. Ethics Panel Urges Ban on Human Cloning
RTos 08.06.97 12:53
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By Patricia Wilson
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - A U.S. ethics panel recommended Saturday
that Congress enact legislation to ban the cloning of entire
human beings for now but allow the cloning of human embryos for
private laboratory research.
Under the scenario proposed by the National Bioethics Advisory
Commission, scientists or doctors could make cloned human embryos
for research purposes but would be prohibited from implanting
them into women's wombs to make viable babies.
"Human cloning that leads to the birth of a child should be
forbidden by law for at least three to five years," the
panel said in its report, which will be sent to President Clinton
Monday.
Clinton asked the advisory group in February to review the
complex legal and ethical ramifications of cloning after
scientists in Scotland reported they had cloned a lamb -- which
they named Dolly -- from a single cell taken from an adult sheep.
Their success was controversial, raising the prospect that the
procedure could be used to make humans genetically identical to
an existing man or woman.
The U.S. commission of 18 scientists, lawyers and theologians was
faced with trying to reconcile the views of opponents of cloning
who regard it as an affront to nature and demand a complete ban,
and supporters who see it as a stunning scientific breakthrough
with promising medical repercussions.
Polls taken shortly after the announcement of the cloning of
Dolly showed 90 percent of Americans opposed human cloning.
Clinton in March broadened his 1994 prohibition on
government-funded human embryo research to include federal
funding of human cloning work, saying it raised deep concerns
"given our most cherished concepts of faith and
humanity."
"Each human life is unique, born of a miracle that reaches
beyond laboratory science. I believe we must respect this
profound gift and resist the temptation to replicate
ourselves," he said.
The panel's proposal would extend that human cloning ban to
include privately funded work, but leave in place the current
policy allowing private embryo research.
The commission's recommendations appeared to meet the most
immediate concern of many Americans -- that the scientific
procedure that produced Dolly might be used to make children who
would be exact genetic copies of a single adult.
But critics complained the commission had not gone far enough.
Sen. Christopher Bond, a Missouri Republican, said it left the
door wide open to future cloning.
"I had hoped that the federal ethics commission would not be
afraid to make a strong moral statement that human cloning is
wrong, period, and should be banned," he said.
Bond, who introduced a bill that would impose a total ban on
human cloning, said it would be up to Congress and state
legislatures to resolve the issue.
The Family Research Council accused the commission of
"completely avoiding the subject of ethics."
"FRC strongly opposes this recommendation ... Such a policy
is premised on the false assumption that human beings less than
14 days old are not completely human, thereby condoning the
destruction of countless numbers of embryonic children for the
sake of 'research,"' the organization said.
American Life League president Judie Brown said the commission
had made "a terrible mistake."
"The persistent effort by members of the scientific
community to redefine the human being and equate him with members
of the animal kingdom can only lead to moral chaos and social
ruin," she said.
A pharmaceutical industry group welcomed the recognition of the
importance of genetic research, but said any ban on cloning
complete human beings should be narrowly defined.
"Any legislative prohibition on the cloning of entire human
beings must not jeopardize biomedical research that involves the
cloning of human genes, cells or tissues," the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said.