- November 26,
2001
- Read our fact sheet on
cloning.
Response to
Announcement That a Private Company Has Cloned Human Embryos for
Experimentation Purposes
Statement of Dr.
Brent Blackwelder, President, Friends of the
Earth
The announcement yesterday
that human embryos have been cloned by Advanced Cell Technology
(ACT) should be deeply disturbing for anyone who cares for our
planet and its people. Friends of the Earth (FoE), has opposed all
human cloning because it violates two fundamental principles shared
by environmentalists: the precautionary principle, and respect for
nature. We are further concerned that the pursuit of this unproven
technology is being driven by entrepreneurial greed and scientific
arrogance under the guise of alleviating human suffering. Dangling
cures for a host of diseases, ACT--and others who will surely follow
in their wake-seek to throw open a Pandora's Box of technologies
that could easily do more harm than good.
In order to safeguard the
environment and human life, FoE calls for the following: · A ban
on all human reproductive cloning and genetic germline
modifications, including "designer babies" · A moratorium on
human therapeutic cloning until alternatives are explored ·
Safeguards to prevent export and blackmarket distribution of cloned
or genetically modified human embryos.
The scientists touting this
technology and the bioethicists who rally behind it fail to see the
slippery path on which they tread and the grotesque manipulation of
nature that they are conducting. They have isolated themselves from
the sensibilities of the American public.
For example, two years ago
the same company that announced a cloned human embryo put a human
nucleus in a cow egg and let it divide.
Last year, they tried to
clone an endangered species of ox (the Gaur) and it died. Even if it
had survived, the creature would have been the genetically
engineered product of more than one species and it would have
distracted from the pressing need to protect endangered species
habitat, rather than generate genetic hybrids as zoo
specimens.
The precautionary principle
is a cornerstone of environmentalism and it should be applied to the
new human genetic technologies. It requires that we have some regard
for the consequences of our actions before we carry them out. In
this century alone, the list of unforeseen and unintended
consequences of modern industrial civilization is enormous; so is
the attendant economic and environmental damage. The unforeseen and
devastating consequences of the use of CFCs, DDT, and PCBs
illustrate the need for this underlying principle.
Environmentalists embrace an
ethic of respect for nature and strive to demonstrate the
interdependence of humans and our natural world. Proponents of
cloning and inheritable modification, on the other hand, extol the
virtues of "re-making Eden" --- of "improving" what nature has given
us. For example, "designer babies" or the cloning of pets that don't
cause allergies will lead us down a slippery slope toward the
redesign of the rest of life. Indeed, if society allows the cloning
of human beings today, inheritable genetic manipulation of humans
and all other species cannot be far behind.
Contact: Mark Helm,
202-783-7400
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