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ASRM BULLETIN
Volume 4, Number 4
January 22,
2002
National Academy of Sciences Issues Report on Medical
and Scientific Aspects of Human Cloning
Friday, the NAS issued its long-awaited report and its recommendation
that human reproductive cloning should be banned now and reevaluated in
five years. Considering scientific and medical sides of human cloning, but
not the moral questions involved, the panel based its recommendations on
an exhaustive review of scientific, medical, and veterinary literature and
the findings of its August 7, 2001 meeting with the premier researchers in
the field.
The report states that human reproductive cloning would
be "dangerous for the woman, fetus, and newborn, and is likely to fail."
Cloning has been studied extensively in mice, sheep, goats, pigs, and cows
and is largely unsuccessful. Many clones die in utero; many more die soon
after birth; and those that survive often exhibit severe birth defects.
Moreover, carrying a clonal pregnancy is often dangerous to the female
animal. At the August 7 meeting, Rudolph Jaenisch, of MIT, warned of
developmental problems resulting from faulty reprogramming of a clone's
genome, which may be related to genetic imprinting. The panel also
discussed the extraordinary numbers of donor eggs required for any attempt
at reproductive cloning and the risks to egg donors who would be exposed
to "adverse health effects" from the high doses of hormones they would
receive to stimulate egg production and the surgery they would undergo to
extract the eggs.
The report does, however, support the use of
somatic cell nuclear transfer technology for its "considerable potential
for developing new medical therapies for life threatening diseases and for
advancing fundamental knowledge," according to Irving Weisman, panel
chair.
The full report is available from the National Academy
of Sciences- http://www.nas.edu/
President's Council on Bioethics Begins Work
The newly formed President's Council on Bioethics took the high road
during its first meeting Thursday and Friday last week. Using literature
as a point of embarkation, discussion touched on topics as diverse as
love; the drive of man to perfect himself; the role of a new child as
"stranger," embodying its parents' union in its own individuality; rights
in a democratic society; and one's desire to "savor the world" versus
one's compulsion to save it. Council Chairman Leon Kass led the group in
accordance with his goal to develop "a richer and deeper public bioethics:
one that does justice to the full human meaning of biomedical advance and
that can also provide guidance to the President and the nation regarding
the concrete policy decisions that inevitably arise."
The group's
immediate goal is to address the issue of cloning human beings- its
meaning, and the intertwined ethical and scientific issues. The Council
expects to have four or five more meetings before issuing a
report.
While the membership of the Council seems to exhibit
a conservative bent, a variety of views are represented, as are a number
of different approaches. Drawn mostly from academia, members include
physicians, lawyers, scientists, specialists in government, theologians
and philosophers. Some patients' advocacy groups have expressed concern
that the assembled experts do not include anyone speaking from the
patient's point-of-view.
Late Thursday afternoon, President Bush
met with Council members and encouraged them to help the nation clarify
"how to come to grips with how medicine and science interface with …the
notion that life is …you know, that there is a Creator."
ASRM made
the following statement to the Council at the time for Public Comments:
ASRM STATEMENT ON
PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL ON
BIOETHICS MEETING
JANUARY 17-18, 2002
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine is pleased that
President Bush has recognized the need to examine the ethical implications
of the rapid advances in biological and medical sciences. It can be
difficult to determine where all the new biotechnologies are leading us,
but it is important to try.
The field of reproductive medicine, in
particular, has been advancing at a very impressive pace, despite the lack
of federal funding for research. For some, these advances raise questions
about the nature of personhood, parenthood, and even life
itself.
Every day ASRM members grapple with these bioethical
questions in the real world. As they counsel their patients on the best
medical treatments for them, our doctors are called upon to discuss with
their patients the ways their choice of treatment will work within the
patient’s own system of ethics and beliefs. It is crucial that the voice
of the patient be heard as this commission goes about its work. Working in
a pluralistic society, it is important that many points of view be heard
from.
Since its founding in 1944, the ASRM has been dedicated to
promoting applied and basic research and the highest standards of patient
care. To help guide its members in this effort, ASRM early-on established
an Ethics Committee. Its present members include medical doctors and
researchers, as well as professors of law, ethics, political science, and
clinical social work. Our Ethics committee has done reports on a variety
of topics including cloning, the use of embryos for research and the use
of donated gametes. We will be happy to make these reports available to
you.
ASRM is opposed to attempts at human cloning. However, the
knowledge we may gain from further research into early human development
by studying the human embryo and eggs, embryonic stem cells and
therapeutic cloning is too important to ignore. Studies in these areas may
be essential to the development of new techniques in regenerative
medicine, a field that holds the promise of using a patient’s own genetic
material to cure disease. Such research must continue, preferably with the
support and oversight of the federal government.
ASRM's leadership
and its Ethics Committee are committed to working with the President's
Council on Bioethics and are looking forward to providing whatever
assistance you might need on scientific, medical or ethical
issues.
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