England Advocates Fake Cloning Ban

By Kathryn Jean Lopez

[Pro-Life Infonet Note: Kathryn Jean Lopez is an associate editor with the newsweekly National Review.]

Britain is getting credit for being the first nation set to ban cloning. Truth is, they are the first to have legalized it.

Last week, the British health secretary announced that the Labour party will offer legislation to ban cloning. But there's one catch. The proposed law would cover "reproductive cloning," but not "therapeutic cloning." Currently, in Britain, so-called therapeutic cloning i.e., creating embryos for research purposes is legal for scientists who have been granted a state license. The embryos are allowed to live for no more than 14 days: Stem cells are extracted, then destroyed. What Britain would ban is so-called reproductive cloning, in which a cloned embryo gets implanted into a woman's womb.

In other words, cloning is okay so long as no one survives.

The disingenuousness of the British campaign may be a product of the political season a month or so away from an expected election. But the fakery could have serious implications worldwide.

As the United States debates cloning, policymakers ought to consider the implications of a government mandate to destroy embryos. Considering the current debate over stem-cell research and the harvesting of fetal cells for research, the deceptive British model of cloning may not be too far away.

Source: National Review; April 24, 2001 as quoted in the Pro-Life Infonet 4/25/01 #2413   The Pro-Life Infonet is a daily compilation of pro-life news and information. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe" to: infonet-request@prolifeinfo.org. Infonet is sponsored by Women and Children First (http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.org). For more pro-life info visit http://www.prolifeinfo.org and for questions or additional information email ertelt@prolifeinfo.org