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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Release

.....August 12, 2003.....
 

Mayo Clinic Proceedings Publishes Article that Argues for Comprehensive Ban on Human Cloning; Koop, Pellegrino, Kilner et. al. Discuss Reasons for Ban

Chicago, Illinois - August 12, 2003 - An article arguing that medicine should reject all forms of human cloning, both reproductive cloning as well as cloning for research, has been published in the latest Mayo Clinic Proceedings journal.

The article, "Why Medicine Should Reject Human Cloning" written by:

  • William P. Cheshire, Jr., M.D., Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
  • Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D., The Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University
  • Linda K. Bevington, M.A., The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity
  • C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D., The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity
  • Nancy L. Jones, Ph.D., Wake Forest University School of Medicine
  • Kevin T. FitzGerald, Ph.D., The Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University
  • C. Everett Koop, M.D., The C. Everett Koop Institute, Dartmouth College
  • John F. Kilner, Ph.D., The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity

argues the following points:

  1. A ban on "research cloning" is needed to safeguard against instances of reproductive cloning. A partial ban would be unenforceable, and violations would often go unnoticed. -If cloned human embryos were produced for research purposes, appeals to compassion within the privacy of the physician-patient relationship would likely lead to their implantation. -A partial ban would (therefore) eliminate only the language of reproductive cloning and would facilitate the type of cloning (reproductive) that it sought to prevent.
  2. A policy allowing research cloning would run counter to U.S. jurisprudence regarding the treatment of human embryos and to the intent of ethical codes designed to protect human subjects in research. The prospect of creating and destroying human embryos for research purposes has, for valid reasons, been consistently opposed in both the legal and ethical arenas.
  3. Utilitarian appeals emphasizing the alleged medical promise of research cloning are self-defeating, dangerous, and fail to warrant the cost in nascent human life.
  4. No convincing case has been made that offers substantive arguments for rejecting our nation's well- established legal and ethical standards.
  5. Research cloning is incompatible with the principal ethical foundations of medicine, and the harms research cloning would bring to medicine would exceed the anticipated benefits.

The authors urge increased allocation of funding for non-embryonic stem cell research and other promising research that does not depend on human cloning.

They also urge the adoption of policies that would comprehensively prohibit human cloning for research as well as reproductive purposes.

To access the entire article, please visit: http://www.mayo.edu/proceedings/.

About The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity is a 501(c) 3 non-profit think tank located in Chicago, Illinois. Its mission is to develop reasoned perspectives on all of today's bioethical issues and to disseminate them to health care professionals, academia, cultural and church leaders, public policy makers, and the media in order to protect human dignity. CBHD

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Copyright 2003 by The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity

The contents of this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CBHD, its staff, board or supporters. Permission to reprint granted as long as The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity and the web address for this article is referenced.