Human Cloning and Stem Cells – University of Hawaii

The Potential and Controversy of Human Cloning and Use of Stem Cells

Panel: Cloning Humans is Unsafe by LAURA MECKLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Cloning human beings for the purpose of reproduction is medically unsafe and should be banned but cloning for disease research should be allowed, a panel of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites) concluded Friday.

The scientific report comes even as White House bioethics advisers are weighing the benefits of medical advances against the moral hazards of human cloning. On Thursday President Bush (news - web sites) challenged the ethics group to be the ``conscience of the country.''

The academy's report said: ``Human reproductive cloning should not now be practiced. It is dangerous and likely to fail.''

Animal cloning has shown that ``only a small percentage of attempts are successful; that many of the clones die during gestation, even in late stages; that newborn clones are often abnormal; and that the procedures may carry serious risks for the mother,'' said the panel on the scientific and medical aspects of human cloning.

However, the panel of scientists added that the ban should not extend to cloning of embryos in order to extract stem cells that have the potential to treat life-threatening diseases. That practice is sometimes called therapeutic cloning to differentiate it from reproductive cloning.

The science panel urged that the safety of reproductive cloning be re-evaluated every five years but that the procedure be banned during that time.

``The panel believes that no responsible scientists or physicians are likely to undertake to clone a human,'' the report said. ``Nevertheless, no voluntary system that is established to restrict reproductive cloning is likely to be completely effective.''

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Human Cloning and Stem Cells - University of Hawaii