Human cloning

Christian Century, Dec 12, 2001

RELIGIOUS AND political leaders, from President Bush to the Vatican, sharply criticized the announcement that scientists in Massachusetts had succeeded in creating the first cloned human embryo, pushing religion and science onto an expected but as yet uncharted ethical frontier. The scientists insisted the work aimed to produce stem cells for new medical therapies rather than to clone a human being.

Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester, Massachusetts, announced November 25 that it had succeeded in growing--for only a few hours--cloned human embryos of four to six cells. "We should not, as a society, grow life to destroy it," said Bush in response to reporter questions, "and that's exactly what's taking place, and I have made that position very clear."

The president said the scientific work in Massachusetts was "bad public policy. Not only that, it's morally wrong in my opinion." Federal money cannot be used for cloning research involving human embryos, so much of the scientific work in the field is being carried out by private firms.

The Vatican, responding with unusual speed, said November 26 that despite the "humanistic intentions" of scientists, the first cloning of human embryos is an act of "moral gravity" that must be unequivocally condemned. Calling the step a significant ethical event, the Vatican said it reopened the debate over when human life begins. The Catholic Church holds that life begins not at birth but at the fertilization of an egg.

"Despite the declared humanistic intentions of the striking cures predicted from this road that passes through the industry of cloning, a calm but firm valuation is required which shows the moral gravity of this project and motivates its unequivocable condemnation," the Vatican said.

It was the third time in two weeks that the Vatican has spoken out against the cloning of human beings. The church also opposes test tube fertilization for couples who cannot naturally conceive a child. Archbishop Rafaele Renato Martino, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, said November 19 that the Vatican backs a proposed international convention against human cloning. He charged that cloning of human beings would "contaminate and desecrate the future of humankind." In the same week, Pope John Paul II, in a message to a conference on biology, medicine and society held near Paris, said human stem cells must be "treated with respect" because of "the human patrimony of which they are carriers."

Researchers at Advanced Cell Technologies reported that the human embryos they cloned grew only for several hours--long enough to form four to six cells each. None developed into stem cells, which can grow into any cell or type of tissue in the body. The company's goal is to succeed in growing them to a mass of several hundred cells in order to isolate embryonic stem cells. Michael West, chief executive of the company, told the Los Angeles Times that the work constituted "the first halting steps" toward a new era of medicine. "It looks like this is going to be possible, but this is obviously only a preliminary report," said West, adding that the reason for publishing early results was to be "transparent" about its research.

But the news was "deeply disturbing" to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington. "The arrogance that leads someone to believe he can take on the role of God and reduce humans to mere `spare parts,'" McCarrick said, "is an arrogance which has dangerous implications we cannot fully anticipate."

A United Methodist lobbyist on Capitol Hill joined in condemning the private company's experiments, speaking at a November 26 news conference with seven other groups organized by Republican Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas. Jaydee R. Hanson, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, said his denomination's General Conference adopted a resolution in 2000 that called for "a complete and total ban" of human cloning, including those limited to producing human embryos.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said the development underscored the need for immediate congressional enactment of a "comprehensive ban on human cloning, including somatic cell nuclear transfers and parthenogenesis." By its own admission, Land said, Advanced Cell Technology "created cloned human embryos for the purpose of experimentation. Human embryo-destructive experimentation is unconscionable and must no longer be permitted."

In July the House of Representatives approved legislation that would ban all cloning of human beings, including embryos, but the Senate has yet to take up the proposal. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D., S.D.) said November 25 that he supports "cloning for research purposes," but that he found the company's experiments, published in an on-line journal, to be "disconcerting." On Fox News Sunday, Daschle said, "I think it's going in the wrong direction."

Also joining the call for congressional action were a number of conservative Christian political action groups, including Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the Christian Coalition and the Christian Legal Society.