PRESS RELEASE

Release Date: May 20, 2005

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity Responds to Cloning Around the World

Chicago, Illinois - May 20, 2005 -

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity is disappointed by the announcement that teams of scientists in South Korea and Britain have produced cloned human embryos and destroyed them for research purposes.

South Korean scientists have developed stem cell lines from human embryos cloned from the body cells of patients with certain genetic diseases in hopes of some day deriving cures from the research. A team of scientists from the University of Newcastle has also cloned a human embryo, the result of limited licenses recently given by the British government.

C. Ben Mitchell, Senior Fellow at The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity observes, “Sadly, this cloning activity flies in the face of the recent ban on cloning passed by the United Nations. The United Nations is hardly anti-science. It is simply committed to supporting good science—not science that manufactures and shreds the youngest of human beings to accomplish its ends.”

“The embryos that are being produced and destroyed here are indeed human beings,” adds Center Fellow, David Fletcher. “They are ‘beings,’ not merely cells such as blood cells or skin cells, and they are genetically human. To use them as raw material for medical treatment is deeply troubling, especially since stem cells obtained from adults without harming those adults appear to be so promising medically.”

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity concludes that any benefit that might be obtained through the type of research announced yesterday does not warrant the harm of embryo-destructive research or the exploitation of women to obtain the still considerable number of eggs needed.
 

For Interviews with Center Personnel

Contact Sarah Flashing, Director of Public Relations, at 847-317-4097, or by email at sflashing@cbhd.org 

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

Copyright 2005 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.