Why a MORATORIUM on SCNT*/Human Therapeutic Cloning Equals a BAN on Life-saving Medical Research

MORATORIUM = BAN

• A moratorium would mean that important medical breakthroughs are put on hold indefinitely. People suffering from disease are told they will just have to wait for their cures. Many of these patients do not have time to wait and a research delay could be a death sentence.

• A moratorium sends a strong signal to the scientific community that SCNT/human therapeutic cloning should not be pursued. Further, it stigmatizes this research as suspect. Researchers will be unwilling to pursue this important area of science because of the stigma as well as the uncertainty about whether it will ever become an accepted form of research.

• Shutting down research today and restarting it when a moratorium is lifted is illogical. It makes no sense to impose a moratorium that forces patients with diseases to wait two years before researchers can get started on potential cures and treatments. A moratorium will hold back science much longer than two years.

• The moratorium proposed is not even a thinly veiled attempt at banning important research outright -- its intent is quite clearly to halt SCNT. Proponents of a moratorium know how difficult it is to lift one -- that is why they are proposing it.

• The Food and Drug Administration already requires medical research - including SCNT/human therapeutic cloning - to be done only after disinterested review by an institutional review board ("IRB"). IRBs ensure that research risks are both minimized and reasonable, including those associated with egg donation or tissue transplantation; that participation (including egg donation) is informed and free of coercion or undue inducements; and that research materials (e.g., embryos) and records are protected against unauthorized use (e.g., for reproduction). The argument that a moratorium is needed to ensure adequate oversight is specious.

• With a moratorium, SCNT research will continue in other countries while disallowed in the United States -- the effects of this will be:
  • Scientists may leave this country to perform research elsewhere.
  • Americans will not have first access to the newest, and potentially best, treatments because new products will be developed in other countries.
  • The U.S. will surrender its ability to lead the world not only in research, but to set the ethical and regulatory standards about how this research should be conducted.

• A moratorium isn't necessary. SCNT/human therapeutic cloning research has been studied and endorsed by the National Academy of Sciences.

*Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer