BODY: WASHINGTON -- After five months of deliberation, the President's
Council on Bioethics released on Thursday its final report on human cloning. It offers a divided opinion on the morality and
future of cloning research.
In the report,
"Human Cloning and Human Dignity," the 17 voting council
members -- public policy commentators, researchers and bioethicists --
unanimously called for a ban on cloning a baby. But on the question of using
cloned embryonic stem cells to cure disease, there were wide differences: Ten
members called for a four-year halt to all cloning research; seven recommended
cloned embryonic stem-cell research proceed with federal regulation and
support.
"The issues are vexing, the
passions are high, and it's very hard to think one's way though this," said
council Chairman Leon Kass of the University of Chicago and the American
Enterprise Institute.
President Bush named
the members of the council in January and charged them with examining the ethics
of cloning and other biomedical matters. Their vote has no impact on laws or
regulations.
Given presidential opposition
to any cloning, "it is a bit surprising that the vote was as close as it was,"
says bioethicist Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia. He is not on the council.
Human cloning has been a topic of heated debate between supporters who
say that it offers hope for curing disease and critics who say that it destroys
life.
The cloning process starts with
placing a creature's cells into a hollowed out, unfertilized egg. The
cell-bearing egg is treated with chemicals or electricity to start it dividing
like an embryo. If implanted into a womb, offspring with genes identical to the
original creature may result. If used in medicine, the cloned embryo may produce
stem cells with genes identical to a patient's.
Stem cells are the progenitor cells for many of the organs that fail in
diseases such as Alzheimer's and diabetes. Embryonic stem cells potentially can
grow into any type of tissue, so researchers hope to get them to become
replacement tissues for failed organs.
Opponents of human cloning research often object because collecting the
stem cells kills a 5-day-old cloned embryo. Supporters say cloning is essential
for treating disease because a patient's immune system won't reject stem cells
with identical cloned genes.
Despite the
majority vote for a moratorium, most of the panelists say they have no moral
objections to the research. Three who voted for a halt say they want to enact
regulations before allowing research to proceed.
Last year, the House of Representatives voted to ban all human cloning,
but Senate attempts to pass a ban have been unsuccessful. "The tide has turned
toward allowing some forms of cloning research using federal funds," Caplan
says.
But influencing legislation was not
the goal of the council, says Kass, who has submitted the report to Bush. He
says he hopes the report serves to guide future discussion of biomedical
research ethics.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO,
B/W, Nancy Wiechec, Reuters; Kass: Issues are vexing, the passions are high" on
the issue.
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