By GREGORY RUMMO
WITH
THE ADVENT of man's ability to clone a human embryo,
yesterday's science fiction has become today's scientific
reality. It may well become our worst bioethical nightmare.
An important debate is about to occur in the U.S. Senate:
whether to approve legislation to ban the cloning of human
embryos. A similar debate in the House of Representatives led
to passage of the Weldon-Stupak Human Cloning Prohibition Act
in February.
President Bush has promised to approve the ban, which would
make it a crime to create a human embryo by cloning.
Several biotechnology corporations are working to develop the
means to clone human embryos in order to harvest stem cells,
which are thought to hold the promise of miraculous cures.
Do embryonic stem cells possess the power to end debilitating
diseases? Or is an over-zealous scientific community selling us
a bill of goods?
Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Worcester, Mass., is one of
the first companies to create a cloned human cell, using a human
egg and a human skin cell. In a story published in Citizen Link
magazine, Dr. Robert Lanza, a vice president at the company,
stated: "Our intention is not to create cloned human beings, but
rather to make lifesaving therapies for a wide range of human
disease conditions."
This is doublespeak.
Bioethics analyst Carrie Gordon Earll explains: "Research
[or] therapeutic cloning ... duplicates a donor's DNA, producing
an embryo but with the goal of harvesting the embryo's stem
cells for research - an act that always destroys the embryo."
Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right
to Life Committee, commented: "This corporation is creating
human embryos for the sole purpose of killing them and
harvesting their cells. Unless Congress acts quickly, this
corporation and others will be opening human embryo farms."
Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., testified
before a Senate subcommittee on this issue. "If we allow
research cloning to be legal in the U.S., we are opening the
door to a whole host of additional moral and ethical dilemmas.
The artificial womb is currently under development, and it is
possible to place the cloned embryos in an artificial womb
environment and allow them to develop beyond the embryonic stage
well into the fetal stage of development," he said.
As one of the original sponsors of the Cloning Prohibition
Act in the House and a medical doctor, he is qualified to speak
on the issue more than most in Washington. He disagrees with the
assessment that cloning humans to produce stem cells holds the
promise of lifesaving therapies. "The potential for human
cloning to end a wide range of human disease conditions has been
based on speculation, exaggeration, and with no scientific
facts. There are not even animal models to back up the claimed
promises," he said.
Dr. David Stevens, the executive director of the Christian
Medical and Dental Associations, is another voice sounding the
alarm. "Cloned cells are not normal - we know that from animal
studies. Thirty to 40 percent of cloned animals that are born
have large-offspring syndrome, enormous livers [and] tongues,
underdeveloped lungs - and they die almost immediately. There's
a high risk of mutation. I would not want cloned cells put in my
body," said Stevens, whose comments were published in February
by Agape Press.
On its Web site, the Council for Biotechnology Policy has
published a paper titled "The Sanctity of Life in a Brave New
World." This manifesto states, in part: "As we develop powers to
make inheritable changes in human nature, we become controllers
of every future generation. It is therefore vital that we
undertake a serious national conversation to ensure a thorough
understanding of these questions, and their answers, so that our
democratic institutions will be able to make prudent choices as
public policy is shaped for the future."
The Bible is clear on the issue. The power to create life is
reserved for God alone. The first words of Genesis state, "In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis
1:1). The Hebrew word for "created" in this verse is bara.
Vine's "Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words" explains that
bara "is a rich theological vehicle for communicating the
sovereign power of God, who originates and regulates all things
to His glory. This verb is of profound theological significance,
since it has only God as its subject. Only God can create in the
sense implied by bara."
In the book of Job, the writer states that in the hand of the
Lord was "the life of every living thing and the breath of all
mankind" (Job 12:10). Let us not be so arrogant to think that
with all of our scientific advancements, we can wrest this power
out of God's hands. The consequences might indeed prove to be
our worst bioethical nightmare. n
Gregory Rummo belongs to
Madison Avenue Baptist Church in Paterson. He is the author of
"The View
From the Grass Roots," published by American Book
Publishing. You may e-mail him
at TheRecordReligion@northjersey.com
RELIGION
WITH
THE ADVENT of man's ability to clone a human embryo,
yesterday's science fiction has become today's scientific
reality. It may well become our worst bioethical nightmare.