ACTIVISM |
Human cloning bill 2001Senator Sam Brownback Congressman Dave Weldon May 27, 2001 Dear Senator Brownback and Congressman Weldon: I am contacting you, as a member of the Board of Directors of the University Faculty For Life, concerning your co-sponsoring of the Human Cloning Ban 2001 that is currently before the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate for consideration. The University Faculty for Life was founded in 1989 to promote research, dialogue and publication among faculty members who respect the value of human life from its inception at fertilization or cloning to natural death. Abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, as well as human embryo and human fetal research, human embryonic stem cell research, and human cloning, are highly controversial topics, but we believe they should not be resolved by the shouting, newsbites and slogans that have dominated popular presentations. Because we believe the evidence is on our side, we would like to assure a hearing for our views in the academic community, as well as in the social and political communities -- hence our concerns expressed to you here regarding certain concerns we have with the Brownback/Weldon Human Cloning Bill as it is currently written. The basic issues and concerns of the University Faculty For Life have many dimensions -- political, social, legal, medical, biological, psychological, ethical and religious. We do not have a detailed statement of orthodoxy; rather we have provided an interdisciplinary forum in which scholars can discuss these issues. Since 1990 the UFL has published a newsletter, Pro Vita; since 1991 it has held an annual conference at various university campuses; and since 1992 the Conference Proceedings have been published in book form and distributed to members and hundreds of university libraries. We have sent letters to public figures who misstate biological facts and submitted three amicus curiae briefs on the life issues to the Supreme Court (two of which I authored on "fetal personhood"). The University Faculty For Life includes as its goals the following:
The University Faculty For Life is also communicating our similar concerns about legislation on these related issues to groups and organizations both here and abroad. We would like to applaud you for your courageous efforts to ban all forms of human cloning in the United States, in the public as well as in the private sectors. The issue of human cloning, as you well know, is closely related to the issues of human embryo research, human fetal tissue transplant research, human embryonic stem cell research, etc. -- all issues fraught with debate and concern. The University Faculty For Life strongly supports ethical research, but also agrees that immediate federal legislative action must be taken to prevent unethical human research in these areas. However, on closer inspection of your human cloning bill, it would seem that some of the language is too narrow to accomplish a total ban, and would instead inadvertently allow the cloning of living human beings by means of several other cloning techniques not addressed in your bill. The cloning of living human beings could also be permitted in your bill by virtue of certain omissions of critical terms, and by the use of certain scientifically inaccurate terms. Given your goal to ban all cloning of human beings, and given the perception of those who would want to support your efforts to ban all cloning of human beings, we hope that the comments and suggestions to follow will be of help to you and your staff as you continue your efforts in this critical piece of legislation. If it is not your intention to ban all human cloning, then we suggest that your intention to only ban some cloning of human beings be stated unambiguously in the beginning of the bill so that people will correctly understand what they are supporting. We also wish to note that we recently communicated to you our concerns about your human cloning bills, but as yet have not received any responses. These scientific concerns are not just relevant to a bill on human cloning. As you well realize, they are likewise relevant to other proposed legislation dealing with the integrally related issues of abortion, human embryo research, human embryonic stem cell research, human chimera research, etc. It goes without saying that your legislation, if passed by our U.S. Congress, will have an immediate impact on similar laws, guidelines and regulations passed in our individual states, as well as in other countries around the world. Of course, any legislation passed by our U.S. Congress on these several critically important issues will in effect act as a "role model" for similar legislation here and abroad. Such legislation impacts greatly on the health and well-being of the individual members of all of our societies. It is difficult to imagine many issues that would effect our society's health and well-being more than the actual manipulation and permanent designing of the future members of the human species. In summary form, I have copied below for you again the following sections contained in our expressed comments and concerns to you for your kind consideration:
Finally, for your further information, I will also forward to your offices upon request a copy of a recently published article of mine, "When do human beings begin? 'Scientific' myths and scientific facts" -- all fully scientifically referenced, and objectively demonstrating that the immediate product of fertilization and of cloning is a new living human being. My formal written testimony on human cloning presented before the House hearings on human cloning as an invited member of the Science Panel are already available to you, complete with 50+ xerox pages on record from the several human embryology and human genetics textbooks from which I quote in that paper. I am also willing to send to you a copy of my 400-page doctoral dissertation on human embryo research (Georgetown University, 1991), along with a number of peer-reviewed published articles of mine on cloning and these interrelated research issues, if that would be helpful to you. We are looking forward to your kind responses to our concerns expressed in this communication, and thank you very much in advance for your thoughtful consideration. Best regards, Dianne N. Irving, M.A., Ph.D. |