Human Cloning Has Come to the State of IllinoisPosted: December, 2007 By Laurel Madison, Ph.D.
As many of you know, the state of Illinois recently signed into law The Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning Prohibition Act. Contrary to its title, this law is anything but a “prohibition.” In fact, what it permits (and will ask the public to fund) is the creation of cloned human beings solely for their use and destruction in purely speculative research.
With this law, the state of Illinois is not only permitted to undertake embryonic stem cell research, which requires the killing of a living human embryo, but it will also perform what is called “somatic cell nuclear transfer,” which is the scientific term for the procedure of cloning a living being—in this case, a living human being.
The procedure of somatic cell nuclear transfer (or transplantation) involves removing the nucleus from an unfertilized egg and replacing it with the nucleus of an adult cell, which contains all 46 chromosomes of that living individual, i.e., its full genetic code. The egg, together with the donated nucleus, is then stimulated by means of electric shock or chemicals to begin the cell division that culminates in a living human embryo, genetically virtually identical to the person who donated the cell. To be clear, the result of this procedure is a living human being.
According to this new Illinois law, these cloned human beings will then be killed in order to harvest their embryonic stem cells. But there is more. This legislation leaves the door open for growing these embryos into the fetal stage and then harvesting their tissues and organs. The biotech industry has been pushing for such permission for the past several years, and there is nothing in this law as it stands now that would prohibit such a practice. Several scientists have acknowledged that their research would be far more successful if they were able to work with more mature, further developed, organisms (i.e., fetuses). “Fetus farming” is therefore not an unfounded fear on the part of pro-lifers—it is the intention and goal of the biotech industry.
The only thing that is in fact prohibited by this law is the survival of the new cloned embryo or fetus. According to this legislation, this cloned human embryo may not be implanted into a woman’s uterus for the purpose of a pregnancy that would result in the birth of this human being. Therefore, these cloned human beings will be required by law to be destroyed. This will be the first time in our history that a law will actually require the killing of an innocent human being. The state of Illinois is thus sanctioning the intentional creation and destruction of one human being for the sake of others they deem “more valuable.”
Adding Insult to Injury
Because this expensive research remains speculative, the biotech industry was unable to generate the funds they needed from the private sector. As a result, they came up with the brilliant idea of getting the money from tax-payers like you and me. In a savvy marketing ploy, they dropped the unpopular term “human cloning,” and replaced it with “somatic cell nuclear transfer”—a term with which the general public is unfamiliar, but which means exactly the same thing. Their hope is that the public will be gullible enough to unwittingly approve this truly inhumane research. The deception employed by those who drafted this legislation is scandalous. To call this the “Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning Prohibition Act” is an outrage. Make no mistake, human cloning is promoted, not prohibited by this law. Again, the only thing prohibited is the survival of these cloned human beings.
What We Can Do
While we did not succeed in stopping this law from being passed, the good news is that there is currently no funding for it. And without the money, the research will not be able to go forward. However, early this spring supporters of this research will introduce a bill to fund this ghastly research using taxpayer dollars. We cannot let that bill pass. When that legislation is brought forward—and we will certainly publicize it on this website—it is imperative that we all contact our State Senator and State Representative and ask them to vote against it.
Don’t allow your tax dollars to pay for the creation and destruction of human life!
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