Cloning News of the Year 2002
Reprinted from www.cwnews.com
VATICAN DENOUNCES HUMAN CLONING EFFORTS
VATICAN, Dec 30, 02 (CWNews.com) -- The Vatican has strongly condemned efforts to clone human beings, in response to the claim that a cloned infant has already been born.
If the report of a cloned baby is true, it is "the worst news imaginable," said Bishop Elio Sgreccia, the vice-president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls added that the even the announcement of such an event-- true of false-- was "an expression of a brutal mentality, lacking any ethical or human consideration."
Navarro-Valls observed that the announcement by Clonaid, a group connected with the Raelian sect, "has already given rise to skepticism and moral condemnation by the international scientific community."
Responding to the December 26 announcement by Clonaid representative Brigitte Boisselier, Bishop Sgreccia said that the drive to clone human beings should sound an alarm for all concerned individuals. "It is time for humanity to defend itself, with effective laws and valid legal penalties," he said.
Church leaders have argued consistently for a complete ban on human cloning. In a September 25 address to the UN, Archbishop Renato Martino called for an international convention to ban the practice. A draft document, which would ban "reproductive cloning," will be presented to the General Assembly in 2003. That measure, however, would still allow for "therapeutic cloning."
("Reproductive cloning" is a term used for efforts to bring cloned infants to birth. In "therapeutic cloning," human beings are cloned and then destroyed, so that their tissues
December 27, 2002
UFO Sect Claims To Have Cloned Human
HOLLYWOOD, Florida, Dec 27, 02 (CWNews.com) - A member of a religious group that believes life on Earth was created by aliens thousands of years ago claimed on Friday that her company had produced the first human clone to survive to birth.
Brigitte Boisselier, CEO of Clonaid, said the 7-pound baby girl was born on Thursday by Caesarean section and is very healthy, but didn't offer any proof to back up her claims. Other scientists, including some who are themselves working to produce cloned human beings, expressed doubt that Clonaid could clone a human being.
US officials said they would investigate to determine if any laws had been broken. There is currently no law against human cloning in the US, although any such experiments on humans would have to be cleared by the Food and Drug Administration. Other countries have laws that do not allow cloned human beings to be born, but allow cloning for the harvesting of cells as long as the unborn child is then killed.
Boisselier said the baby is a clone of her 31-year-old mother who bore the baby to term. She said an independent expert would conduct DNA testing to determine if the two were exact genetic matches and give his results in nine days. She said she expects four more babies--from North America, Europe, and two from Asia--to be born in a few weeks. Two of the couples are using cells taken from their own deceased children to produce duplicates. She added that 20 more cloning attempts were planned for January.
Many scientists say cloning is too risky for human because of abnormalities seen in cloned animals, including premature aging and other health problems. There's just not enough animal studies that have been completed to verify the safety of it," said Mark Westhusin, a professor at Texas A&M University who has cloned cattle and cats. He added that if the claim is genuine, "I think they're taking a big risk in terms of health hazards to the child."
Boisselier belongs to the Raelian sect, and Clonaid was founded in the Bahamas in 1997 by Claude Vorilhon, the leader of the group. Vorilhon claims aliens visited him in the 1970s and told him they had created all life on Earth through genetic engineering.
December 19, 2002
New Jersey Senate Passes Bill Allowing Human Cloning
NEWARK, Dec 19, 02 (LSN.ca/CWNews.com) - The New Jersey Senate on Monday passed the most radical bill seen to date allowing human cloning and research on embryonic humans. In addition to allowing embryonic human beings left over from infertility clinics to be dissected and killed, Bill S1909 allows the artificial manufacture of cloned human beings to be implanted into a uterus at the embryonic stage and harvested for research and killed at any time from the embryonic period through the ninth month of gestation.
This seemingly incredible point is brought to light in the bill's supposed ban on "cloning of a human being." The legislation goes on to define that: "As used in this section, 'cloning of a human being' means the replication of a human individual by cultivating a cell with genetic material through the egg, embryo, fetal, and newborn stages into a new human individual." Marie Tasy, director of public & legislative affairs for New Jersey Right to Life, explained: "Because the prohibited conduct of cloning a human being draws the line only at the newborn stage, abortions including partial birth abortions up to the day of delivery would be authorized under this legislation," to allow scientists to get at the stem cells from the unborn children, killing them in the process. Commenting on the legislation, Tasy said, "This is truly mad science."
Paraplegic "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve heavily lobbied in support of the legislation. "The sponsors, with the help of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, have politicized this issue and attempted to persuade public opinion with distortions and false promises of curing 'Superman' and other maladies through this misguided legislation," said Tasy. "The truth of the matter," said Tasy, "is that embryonic stem cells have not helped a single human being, and in fact, have actually led to mutation, tumor formation, and tissue rejection in humans."
December, 27 2002
UFO Sect Claims To Have Cloned Human (B)
December, 20 2002
Study Finds Evidence Of IVF Link To Birth Defects (B)
December, 19 2002
New Jersey Senate Passes Bill Allowing Human Cloning (B)
December, 02 2002
Doctor Claims Cloned Baby Due In January (B)
November, 19 2002
Leading Human Cloning Scientist Abandons Quest (B)
October, 17 2002
German UN Delegate Doubts Morality of US Position on Cloning (B)
October, 14 2002
First Human Embryos Cloned In Britain Next Year? (B)
October, 08 2002
US Criticized For Wanting Total Ban On Human Cloning (B)
September, 27 2002
Franco-German Partial Cloning Ban Faces Broad Opposition At UN (B)
September, 24 2002
California Embraces Embryonic Stem Cell Research (B)
August, 30 2002
Australia Bans Human Cloning (B)
August, 19 2002
Disabled Advocates In Australia Demand Embryo Stem Cell Research (B)
August, 14 2002
Cloning Couple Invokes 'Will Of God' (B)
July, 26 2002
Sect Claims Human Clone in Korea (B)
July, 12 2002
President's Bioethics Advisors Unable To Agree On Cloning Ban (B)
June, 26 2002
Human Clone Research Inevitable, Scientists Say (B)
June, 17 2002
Australia Bans Human Cloning (B)
June, 13 2002
Senate Cloning Opponents May Settle For Moratorium (B)
May, 31 2002
European Rightward Tilt May Affect United Nations Business (b)
May, 28 2002
Human Cloning Coming Despite Current Problems, Scientists Say (B)
May, 17 2002
US Senate Postpones Cloning Vote Until June (B)
May, 10 2002
Italian Scientist Claims To Have Cloned Three Babies (B)
May, 01 2002
Proposed Cloning Ban Would Allow Loopholes (B)
April, 11 2002
Russian State Duma Passes Temporary Ban On Human Cloning (B)
April, 09 2002
President Bush To Speak On Human Cloning Wednesday (B)
April, 05 2002
Woman Pregnant with Cloned Baby, Doctor Claims (B)
March, 06 2002
Chinese Moving Ahead on Human Cloning (B)
February, 28 2002
Scottish Scientist's Bid To Pioneer Embryo Stem Cell Research (B)
February, 28 2002
US, Vatican Ask For Treaty To Ban All Human Cloning (B)
February, 18 2002
President's Bioethics Council Stalemates On Cloning (B)
February, 12 2002
Researcher Begins Effort at Human Cloning (B)
January, 31 2002
Cloning Firm Draws Stem Cells from Monkey Embryos (b)
January, 18 2002
British Gov't Wins Cloning Challenge (B)
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