Cloning, Stem Cell Research and Some Historic Parallels
The public has not had an equitable distribution of the arguments against using human embryonic cells for stem cell research, whether the stem cells would be obtained from "therapeutic" cloning, or from "spare" embryos. These clones and "spares" are equivalent examples of early embryos. Too many scientists have called for "therapeutic" cloning and for use of the "spare" embryos, without thinking through the several consequences, some of which could be devastating. For example, Humphreys et al. have shown in mice that cloning by nuclear transfer is so inefficient that most clones die. I Those that survive often display growth abnormalities. They also examined the embryonic stem cells and found their genome to be "extremely unstable." The question then becomes: does this suggest a similar result in human cloning, and one which could be transferred to patients receiving stem cell therapies? Despite this, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and the American Association of Anatomists (AAA), two prominent scientific organizations, advocate their use without ever allowing debate or votes by their membership. A memo of 16 February, 2000 by Robert Yates, then President of AAA, and speaking for the membership, stated that the guidelines for the AAA will "ensure the necessary privacy and dignity of stem cell donors by carefully addressing the ethical issues associated with (stem cell)