How quickly the world is forgetting pledges not to genetically replicate humans as was done with Dolly the cloned lamb. Now, attitudes are changing. Important people are beginning to waver. The scientific community needs to quickly regain its senses.
Some fertility centers that vowed nine months ago never to clone a person are now considering it. A handful of such operations are conducting experiments with human eggs, paving the way for exact genetic replication.Where are the guardians of science and ethics? They should be speaking out against the questionable practice of duplicating humans, with its accompanying moral, legal and ethical issues.
After Dolly was cloned in Scotland, President Clinton cautioned against abuse of the procedure and created a bioethics advisory commission to review the development's impact on humans. There has been silence since.
Clinton's request was wise, as current shifts in attitude indicate. Previously, the president had denied federal funding for human-embryo research. That position should hold firm, but it may not be. A world that puts morals on shifting sands is at the mercy of prevailing tides.
The federal government supports new research on cloning monkeys, encouraging scientists to perfect techniques that could be transferred to humans. Science could easily combine cloning with genetic enhancement to give offspring specific desired traits.
That type of manipulation in humans poses serious questions and concerns. Proponents argue human cloning is no worse morally than creating custom embryos from sperm and egg donors. They are wrong. Human cloning provides new man-imposed meddling to the process and power of creation.
If science will not regulate itself, government should intercede. California has a law making human cloning illegal. Other states, and perhaps the federal government, should follow suit.
Human cloning crosses a line not approached by artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization. It involves processes of genetic manipulation that merit extreme caution.
The creation of human life remains a function of families, not of science and government. Careful consideration must be given the sanctity of human life and respect accorded the process of its creation.