December 28, 2002
BAN IT NOW:
U.S. law not clear on cloning work (Frank J. Murray, 12/28/02, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)Federal officials yesterday vowed to investigate a sect saying it had cloned a human to determine whether it illegally conducted any work in the United States, despite the absence of any cloning-specific U.S. law.Without offering DNA proof, a company called Clonaid - formed by the Raelians religious sect--announced that a 7-pound girl nicknamed "Eve" was delivered by Caesarean section Thursday to a 31-year-old American woman whose DNA was used for the cloning. Other births were said to be imminent.
Several states outlaw cloning, but no U.S. federal law specifically forbids asexual reproduction, despite bipartisan efforts to pass one by the 107th Congress. Researchers in the field have speculated that scientists could stay beyond the reach of restrictive laws by working aboard ships on the high seas.
You have to be fairly dubious that these nuts got this right on their first try, but it does offer the GOP a golden opportunity to pass a cloning ban and it's a good initial test of Bill Frist. You just couldn't ask for better poster boys for how evil the whole idea of cloning is. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 28, 2002 6:18 AM
I suppose the Raelians may have impregnated, say, 500 cult-belonging women and one made it through the 9 months. I note that even the sheep and other animals that have been born seem to be sickly and have odd defects to them. Let's wait and see....
Posted by: Bruce Cleaver at December 28, 2002 10:57 AMI'd think that unless they're willing to allow DNA testing by an independent authority you have to assume a hoax.
Posted by: oj at December 28, 2002 11:07 AMAccording to this link, they will allow independent testing:
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id={86221706-1FC3-414D-BDF5-EC34F290BFD8}
Seems to me they either stumbled upon an undreamt-of new method that is efficient, or they did a lot of trial-and-error testing, which is abhorrent to me.
It's not a choice, it's a baby. This is a job for the existing law of child welfare. I've never been in front of a Family Court judge who would hesitate to apply existing law to a child because somebody had told the court that the child had been cloned.
Posted by: Lou Gots at December 28, 2002 10:01 PM