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Latest Surrogacy News
N.J.
governor signs into law bill allowing therapeutic
cloning, stem cell research
January 5, 2004
BPNews.net
TRENTON, N.J. (BP)--New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey
signed into law Jan. 4 a bill that allows therapeutic
human cloning and gives parents the option of donating
unwanted embryos to stem cell research.
Supporters say the law will result in cures for
life-threatening and chronic diseases. Opponents say the
law will lead to the killing of thousands of tiny human
beings. They also say non-controversial forms of
research -- such as that on adult stem cells -- offer
just as much if not more promise.
"Despite facing overwhelming opposition from many fronts
along the way, today we celebrate a great day for
families, for research, and for the hope that miracles
may be just around the corner," McGreevey said in a
statement.
The law bans one form of human cloning -- reproductive
cloning -- while allowing another kind, therapeutic
cloning. Therapeutic cloning is referred to in the new
law as "somatic cell nuclear transplantation," and
differs from reproductive cloning only in that the
embryo is not implanted in a woman's womb.
In both therapeutic and reproductive cloning, the same
process is used to create the cloned embryo.
The law also allows parents to donate unwanted embryos
-- such as those left over following fertility
treatments -- to stem cell researchers.
Stem cells are at the heart of the debate. Some
scientists argue that the stem cells harvested from
embryos -- they must be destroyed in the process -- are
the key to unlocking medical discoveries. Other
scientists say that adult stem cells, which can be
harvested from adult cells and don't require the
destruction of embryos, hold just as much promise and
don't carry ethical concerns.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics &
Religious Liberty Commission, said the law is a form of
"biotech cannibalism" in which "we consume our own young
for the potential benefit of already-born humans."
"It is a morally despicable decision that reveals a
breathtaking moral bankruptcy," he said. "Additionally
it is based on the highly questionable scientific
assumption that embryonic stem cell research is to be
preferred over research from stem cells that do not
cause the death of their donor. All of the most
promising research that has been done with stem cells
has been done with stem cells that do not come from
human embryos."
In December, three New Jersey state congressmen -- Chris
Smith, Mike Ferguson and Scott Garrett -- issued a
statement warning about the bill's possible
ramifications.
It "would not only allow the cloning of human beings for
research purposes, but would also allow cloned human
embryos to be implanted into a woman's womb, allow the
cloned human to develop to the fetal stage, and then use
this human child for research where he or she could be
killed for their 'spare parts,'" they stated.
"This legislation will launch New Jersey blindly into
the vanguard of terrible human rights violations and
grisly human experimentation. We are literally facing
the prospect of creating a human clone, and implanting
this cloned baby into a woman's womb. Once this happens,
nothing can stop the world's first human clone from
being born and starting a horrible new era of human
history."
The law uses a narrow definition of human cloning,
calling it "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."
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