HUMAN THERAPEUTIC CLONING:
Developments during the year 2002

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Note:
The following news items relate to therapeutic cloning: the creation of
pre-embryos in order to extract their stem cells and create a human organ.
They are unrelated to reproductive cloning: the creation of a newborn who is
an exact duplication of an existing person.
See another essay for U.S. legislative
information at the Federal and State levels. 
Cloning news items during 2002:
 | 2002-JAN-7: USA: Senate debates penalty for cloning: The
House has passed a bill which would levy a ten year jail sentence and 1
million dollar fine for anyone who clones a human embryo. This sentence
would apparently apply to anyone engaged in therapeutic cloning
(producing an embryo with human DNA, even though it is not allowed to
grow beyond the embryo state) or adult DNA cloning (producing an
embryo with human DNA in an attempt to produce a newborn baby). Some
scientists point out that a ban on adult DNA cloning is not needed
because no researcher would be sufficiently unethical to try the
procedure. They point out that a ban on therapeutic cloning would cause
a major brain-drain as researchers went to countries like Britain which
allow limited embryo cloning. In fact, one of the leading researchers,
Roger Pederson has already moved to Britain. Thus, the argument in the
Senate is not about whether therapeutic cloning will be done, but rather
where in the world the research will happen. Senator Sam Brownback,
(R-KS) said: "We must ban all human cloning. This is an important
issue because of the vast historical consequence, and also because it
focuses attention on the meaning of life and whether or not we will, as
a society, allow life to be created and destroyed at our whim." The
Washington times describes the debate as follows:
 | Embryos die when their stem cells are removed. Politicians,
religious leaders, pro-life advocates and some ethicists thus argue
that human stem-cell research is akin to murder. |
 | Scientists for the most part believe that embryos are less than
human beings or persons. They consider them living organisms with the
potential to become human. As such, they say, it's morally appropriate
to sacrifice early-stage embryos in the service of good causes, such
as curing Alzeheimer's [sic] or heart disease. |
Their description is somewhat simplified, because not all politicians
or religious leaders oppose therapeutic cloning. 1 |
 | 2002-JAN-29: USA: Company creates kidney-like organ via
therapeutic cloning: Scientists at Advanced Cell
Technology in Worcester, MA have proven the principle of therapeutic
cloning. They took a cell from a cow's ear, inserted its DNA into a cow
ovum which had its DNA removed, grew stem cells, extracted the cells,
and produced a number of kidney-like cow organs. When implanted into the
original cow, they were not rejected. They started to function like
ordinary kidneys and produced urine. The impact of this development on
humans suffering from kidney disease is immense. If the technology will
work on humans, it would dramatically reduce the need for donor kidneys
and transplants; fewer people would die; persons suffering from kidney
disease would lead much improved lives. This development comes at a
critical time, politically. The House has passed a bill that would
criminalize both reproductive cloning (the production of cloned babies)
and therapeutic cloning (the production of cloned organs). The Senate is
debating one bill that would ban reproductive cloning but permit
therapeutic cloning. Another bill would ban both forms of cloning.
2 |
 | 2002-MAR: USA: Orthodox Jews support therapeutic cloning: The
Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the largest
conservative Jewish group in the U.S., has decided to support
therapeutic cloning, and oppose reproductive cloning. They wrote: "We must be careful to distinguish between
cloning for therapeutic purposes -- which ought to be pursued, and
cloning for reproductive purposes -- which we oppose." 3
This item came from CovenantNews.com, a Fundamentalist Christian news
source. They summarized the news item in a heading: "Quislings Back
Therapeutic Cloning." The word "Quisling" comes from a Norwegian
politician who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. The word
currently means traitor or collaborator. |
 | 2002-JUN-2: MA: Cloned cow tissue
successfully transplanted: According to USA Today, "Researchers
have successfully implanted cloned kidney tissue into a cow, an advance
they say shows that cloned organs won't be rejected by patients' immune
systems. Led by Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester,
Mass., the researchers used kidney cells from a 56-day-old cloned cow
fetus to make working kidney implants." This result was expected,
because the implanted tissue had DNA that was identical to the cow's
DNA. 9 |
 | 2002-JUN-12: Belgium: Government approves therapeutic cloning:
We were u |
 | 2002-JUN-30: USA: NRLC expands mandate: The National Right
to Life Committee was organized in 1972 to restrict or eliminate
abortion access. They decided at their Pittsburgh PA convention,
(held JUN-27 to 29), to expand their mandate to include seeking bans on
human embryo stem-cell research, physician-assisted suicide, and human
reproductive cloning. 4 |
 | 2002-JUL-9: Bioethics Panel issues recommendation: The
President's Council on Bioethics has issued cloning recommendations.
They recommend:
The report said that "The council, reflecting the differences of
opinion in American society, is divided regarding the ethics of research
involving cloned embryos.'' Of the 18 members on the panel, ten
favored a moratorium on therapeutic cloning, seven wanted research to
continue, under strict regulations. One member effectively abstained.
5 |
 | Week of 2002-AUG-11: USA: American Bar Association to vote on
cloning: The ABA held its annual meeting in Washington DC. They
represent 408,000 lawyers. A
resolution to approve therapeutic cloning was approved. 6
The Scientist Magazine reported that the ABA's policy
making body, the "House of Delegates will vote this week on the
proposed policy, which endorses therapeutic but not reproductive cloning."
Policy author Robyn Shapiro, director of the Center for the Study of
Bioethics at the Medical College of Wisconsin said: "We
must be careful to distinguish between cloning for therapeutic purposes,
which should be pursued, and cloning for reproductive purposes, which
the ABA opposes." 7
Shapiro later stated that: "Members overwhelmingly agreed with the
policy. This outcome shows that there is a growing support throughout
the nation for this position." Their policy states, in part: "Governmental
action that would ban all forms of cloning, and thereby foreclose all
potential avenues of medical advancement offered by therapeutic cloning,
poses a direct and serious threat to freedom of scientific inquiry."
8 |

- August Gribbin, "Senate to debate cloning penalties," Washington
Times, at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/
- Rick Weiss, "Scientists Claim an Advance in Therapeutic Cloning: Mass.
Firm Uses Embryonic Cow Cells to Create Kidney-Like Organs; Transplant Success
Reported," Washington Post at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
- "Orthodox Jews Take Liberal Path on the Facts of Life," Family Research
Council, Washington Update newsletter, 2002-MAR-13.
- Jim Rudd, "National Right to Life's Deception," at:
http://covenantnews.com/
- Stuart Shepard, "Federally funded research prompts questions,"
Citizen Link, Focus on the Family, 2002-JUL-11
- David Brody, "ABA Poised to Endorse Cloning," Family News in
Focus, 2002-AUG-13, at:
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/
- Diane Martindale, "US lawyers mull cloning: American Bar
Association to decide this week whether to sanction therapeutic cloning,"
The Scientist, 2002-AUG-13, at:
http://www.biomedcentral.com
- Diane Martindale, "Lawyers oppose ban on cloning: American Bar
Association votes to oppose government ban on therapeutic cloning,"
The Scientist, 2002-AUG-19, at:
http://www.biomedcentral.com
- Dan Vergano, "Cloned cow tissue passes
anti-rejection test," USA TODAY, 2002-JUN-2, at:
http://www.usatoday.com/

Copyright © 2002 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Originally published: 1997-AUG-5
Last updated 2004-FEB-16
Author: Bruce A Robinson


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