Posted on 1/16/2003, 1:09:37 AM by RJCogburn
"By threatening 10-year prison terms and ruinous fines for anyone who even attempts human cloning, Congress is telling scientists: create new life and you forfeit your own," says Robert W. Tracinski, senior writer for The Ayn Rand Institute.
"Facing such severe threats, who would be crazy enough to attempt human cloning? The answer: a group of people who believe humans were created by space aliens," says Tracinski, referring to Clonaid, the company—founded by "Raelian" cultists—that claims to have created two cloned human babies.
"Only a few legitimate scientists have ventured into research to discover a reliable process for cloning human beings," says Tracinski, also a columnist for Creators Syndicate. "Why push forward the frontiers of technology when your reward is likely to be a prison term? But there is also a deeper issue: science and technology are languishing from a lack of moral support."
Tracinski explains: "'Bioethics,' the field that is supposed to examine the moral issues involved in biotechnology, largely condemns the science it studies. Its most vocal advocates are divided between the religionists of the right, who condemn genetic engineering as 'playing God,' and the religionists of the left, environmentalists who condemn mankind for transgressions against their god, 'Nature.'"
"The science of cloning promises real benefits, from a way to help infertile couples have children to the use of therapeutic cloning to grow replacement organs," says Tracinski. "But the real scientists who are working on cloning are being targeted by punitive legislation initiated by religionists—bioethicists of the left and right—as kooky as the Raelians."
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