International Ministry Condemns Human Experimentation; Focus on the Family Urges Congress to Ban All Human Cloning

2/12/2004

From: David Gasak, of Focus on the Family, 719-548-4570, gasakdp@fotf.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Feb. 12 -- Focus on the Family Senior Policy Analyst for Bioethics Carrie Gordon Earll issued the following statement today in response to the announcement that South Korean scientists have successfully cloned and dissected human embryos for stem cell research:

"Scientists conducting and advocating for human cloning as a means of deriving embryonic stem cells for research are crossing a moral line in their exploitation of the human family. As a result, a new moral ethic is being embraced: the more vulnerable a human is, the more acceptable it is to destroy.

"Creating human life through cloning for the sole purpose of its destruction by extracting stem cells is nothing short of scientific cannibalism, consuming and devouring our young for speculative scientific gain. It is immoral and unnecessary. The real advances in regenerative medicine are already evident in successful trials and actual therapies utilizing non-embryonic stem cell sources such as bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, the pancreas and brain. No human life is destroyed in collecting these cells.

"Proponents of human cloning for embryonic stem cell research are so desperate to gain public approval that they purposefully misrepresent what is taking place, insisting that they are not cloning human beings. Ironically, the humanity of cloned embryos is confirmed by the very goals of human cloning -- either to destroy the embryo for stem cell research or to implant the embryo in a womb for a live birth. Only entirely human embryos possess the stem cells scientists crave as well as the ability to grow and mature into the next stage of human development -- a fetus.

"The only way to prevent the scientific exploitation of young cloned humans and the birth of a live cloned fetus is for Congress to pass a comprehensive ban on all human cloning as seen in the "Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2003" passed by the US House of Representatives last year."