U.N. Delays Debate on Cloning

hedpe2003 writes "'The General Assembly on Tuesday ducked for a year a polarizing debate over human cloning that has set the Bush administration against some allies like Britain and much of the world's scientific community. All 191 United Nations members agree on a treaty to prohibit cloning human beings, but they are divided over whether to extend such a ban to stem cell and other research known as therapeutic cloning. Opponents say total prohibition would block research on cancer, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, spinal cord injuries and other conditions. The White House says that enough stem cells from human embryos exist for research and that cloning an embryo for any reason is unethical. United States was happy to go along with the one-year consensus but would not alter its stance. 'We will continue to work for a total ban,' he said.' I was just wondering what everyone thought about this. To tell the truth, I didn't know that the US was pushing so hard to ban stem cell research all together."

Comments

I saved Stanley's stem cells

[Bruce Perens]

When Stanley was born, we banked his umbilical cord blood. Cord blood contains a form of fetal stem cell. The cells are in storage in a cryogenic facility at the University of Arizona. They can be used if he (or a sibling, if he had one) needs a stem cell donor for medical reasons later in life. I do not believe there is any ethical issue regarding healing Stanley with his own cells, provided that anything grown from the cells does not include a conscious brain of its own. And we need research so that we can use those cells.

Too much of the objection over stem cell use is concerned with the origin of some stem cell cultures in aborted fetuses.

Bruce

Re:wait wait wait...

[zhenlin]

Genetically, they [eggs, and embryos] are human beings. The big picture: they are the equivalent of brain-dead humans [until they are proven to be sentient]. They should have about the same rights as those.

Ethical or not - it will be greatly beneficial to be able to do research using cloning and stem cells. With cloning, you can do nature-nurture experiments more easily. With stem cells, you can eventually figure out how to grow organs instead of transplanting them.

The first country that legalises cloning and stem cell harvesting for research will have many medical researchers flocking to it. And get lots of insults along the line of 'unethical' and 'immoral'... I wonder, if that will ever happen?