[Vision2020] Re: Cloning

[Tom Hansen]

I tend to agree with you.  Could this research (taken to ultimate extreme
with a slight degree of exaggeration) legitimize Josef Mengele's research on
identical twins conducted at Nazi death camps?  I don't think so.

Could this research (concerning diabetes and cancer) progressively continue
with parts "donated" by people who have died by natural causes?  I, myself,
am a donor (and is reflected as such on my driver's license)?  If so, I
would support legislation against cloning for medical purposes.

Tom Hansen

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Saundra Lund [mailto:sslund@adelphia.net]
> Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2003 10:37 AM
> To: thansen@moscow.com; 'LuJane Nisse'; vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Re: Cloning
>
>
> Mr. Hansen <thansen@moscow.com> wrote:
> "I agree with you 100% that providing a cloned child to a couple that is
> incapable of producing a child on their own is a win-win situation, both
> for
> the child and the parents."
>
> I've not kept up with more current legal developments, but this is from
> a 2/2003 Washington Post article about Dolly's (the sheep) death:
> "Dolly, the friendly but spoiled sheep whose birth by cloning
> revolutionized the world's understanding of molecular biology, was put
> to death yesterday after developing a severe lung problem. She was 6,
> only middle-aged for a sheep, and her death raised fresh questions about
> the safety of cloning techniques . . . She contracted arthritis last
> year, at a young age for a sheep, though it was never clear whether this
> was from too much picture-posing or from the circumstances of her birth.
> Dolly suffered other maladies that may, or may not, have been a
> consequence of her origin . . . ***Many countries have since banned
> human reproductive cloning, while generally permitting cloning research
> on microscopic human cells.*** Cloning a sick person's cells might be
> one way to create tissues that could replace ailing kidneys, livers or
> other organs. The United States has passed no law, as Congress
> deadlocked between a camp that wants to ban only reproductive cloning
> and another that wants to ban research cloning, as well. Fringe groups
> have claimed success at cloning people but have produced no evidence."
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentI
> d=A10048-2003Feb14&notFound=true
> OR
> http://tinyurl.com/o21z
>
> [Note:  emphasis is mine.  SL]
>
> I've read other articles that talk about very valid reasons (scientific,
> philosophical, medical, etc) for banning the cloning of humans, which I
> tend to agree with.  The AMA supports cellular cloning research and
> opposes cloning to produce/create humans.  President Bush, of course,
> supports banning all forms of cloning.
>
>
> Saundra Lund
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to
> do nothing.
> Edmund Burke
>
>
>
>