Cloning Concerns
By Richard Hayes,
Washington Post
| 11. 24. 2007
As the Nov. 21 front-page article "Advance May End Stem Cell Debate" implied, religious conservatives are not the only ones concerned about the use of human cloning for stem cell research. Many liberals, progressives and supporters of women's health and reproductive rights are uneasy for reasons of their own.
Cloning-based stem cell therapies have been projected to cost upward of $100,000 per treatment, raising questions of health equity and access.
Cloning for stem cell research opens the door to reproductive cloning and to high-tech eugenic and "designer baby" applications. And millions of women's eggs would be needed each year to supply the proposed cloning-based "personalized medicine" industry.
With this week's stem cell breakthroughs, the embryo wars may be behind us. Liberals are now in a position to take the lead in drawing attention to the social justice and human rights concerns that the new human genetic technologies raise.
RICHARD HAYES
Executive Director
Center for Genetics and Society
Oakland, Calif.
Related Articles
By Gina Kolata, The New York Times | 06.20.2025
A single infusion of a stem cell-based treatment may have cured 10 out of 12 people with the most severe form of type 1 diabetes. One year later, these 10 patients no longer need insulin. The other two patients need...
By Christina Jewett, The New York Times | 06.05.2025
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently declared that he wanted to expand access to experimental therapies but conceded that they could be risky or fraudulent.
In a podcast with Gary Brecka, who describes himself as a longevity expert...
By Mike Baker, The New York Times | 02.25.2025
As investigators struggled for weeks to find who might have committed the brutal stabbings of four University of Idaho students in the fall of 2022, they were focused on a key piece of evidence: DNA on a knife sheath that...
By David Jensen, Capitol Weekly | 02.19.2025
California scientists took what looked like an $800 million hit last week in their efforts to develop revolutionary treatments and cures for diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes.
It was a jab from the Trump administration, one that generated apocalyptic...
