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Federal Document Clearing House
Congressional Testimony
March 28, 2001, Wednesday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 1360 words
COMMITTEE:
HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY OVERSIGNT OF
HUMAN CLONING RESEARCH
TESTIMONY-BY: DR. GREGORY PENCE PH.D. , PROFESSOR OF
PHILOSPHY
AFFILIATION: SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND
HUMANITIES
BODY: March 28, 2001 The House Committee
On Energy and Commerce W.J. Billy Tauzin, Chairman Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations Hearing Issues Raised by
Human Cloning Research
Dr. Gregory Pence Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy School of Medicine &
Humanities University of Alabama at Birmingham Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for
inviting me to testify today. I believe that phrases such as the clone or the
human clone are prejudicial, like chick or queer and should be avoided. I
believe that the phrase delayed twin is much less question-begging. Mr.
Chairman, I have taught and written about medical ethics for nearly 25 years in
the medical school in Birmingham. In the early 1970 s, all bioethicists except
Joseph Fletcher opposed test tube babies for fear of monsters, harm to families,
and harm to the identity of the children created. Many of these same critics
today oppose
human cloning. Now over 100,000 American babies
exist - 200,000 worldwide - who would not have existed had these critics won.
Back then, over 80% of Americans opposed test-tube babies; now the same percent
of Americans support such efforts. What can we learn from this experience?
First, such babies were not viewed by their parents as the critics predicted,
that is, as commodities or as products. Instead, and because of the effort and
cost that the parents endure, these children are very, very loved. To me, the
essential moral question is whether
human cloning is
intrinsically wrong. But how can a new way of creating a family be intrinsically
wrong? How can a way of avoiding hereditary genetic disease be intrinsically
wrong? If it is not intrinsically wrong, then we must ask whether it I wrong for
some other, associated reason, mainly, whether a child created by cloning would
be harmed, psychologically or physically. I believe that questions of
psychological harm here are entirely speculative and stem from science fiction
and pop psychology. I believe that how children are originated has little to do
with their future mental health. The real requirement for the happiness of
children is loving parents. As for physical danger, I believe that children
should not be originated by cloning until this process is as safe as sexual
reproduction, which now has a roughly 1-2% rate of abnormalities. At the moment,
Mr. Chairman, I believe it is premature to proceed with attempts to originate
humans by cloning, but continuing research and advanced screening techniques for
embryos may one day achieve safe results. Until then, I believe that families
and physicians should be allowed to handle such matters without being subject to
criminal penalties. Over twenty years ago and partly in response to worries
about assisted reproduction, Congress banned federal funds from being used for
embryonic research. Over subsequent decades, many scientists tried to get this
ban overturned, but it was very difficult to do so. If cloning were similarly
banned or criminalized, it would be very difficult to ever undo such
prohibitions - no matter what science later learned. Let us learn from the past
and not repeat its mistakes. Let us leave such matters to physicians,
scientists, and families, not to the federal government. Finally, if government
bans attempts at
human cloning because of worries about
developmental defects, will such a ban be the first step toward greater federal
intrusions? As a result of the Human Genome Project, more fetuses will be tested
for genetic diseases and more parents will learn that their fetuses carry
genetic defects. Only instead of probable or likely genetic defects, these
babies will have certain defects. Here it is important that some couples decide
not to abort such fetuses and decide to carry them to term. In this situation,
and for the worthy aim of preventing such defects, will the same government be
forced to encourage or even require abortions of such fetuses with genetic
diseases? Doesn t the same goal and the same expansion of federal power justify
both intrusions into reproductive freedom? If our moral criterion is the best
interest of future children, how can government ban reproduction for likely
defects but not for certain defects? The reverse of this point is also
interesting. If preventing defective children justifies federal intervention in
the bedroom, and if cloning one day becomes safer than sexual reproduction, will
cloning then be the only required way to have children - based on the good of
future children? Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to testify today.
LOAD-DATE: March 30, 2001, Friday