Hello,
There is a very interesting article in today's N.Y. Times; this
article reports on the efforts to get legislation to prohibit human cloning,
and stem cell research, at the state level. The thesis of the article is
that the Senate has stalled enough that the pro-life/religious lobbyists are
getting restless and are shifting to possibly more fertile ground at the
state level. The article quotes an ethics and law professor at the
University of Wisconsin who says that a region by region, patchwork approach
to the regulation/ prohibition of cloning and stem cell research may be
appropriate. This sounds to me like those obscenity law cases where the U.S.
Supreme Court has ruled that issues of what is obscene, what should be
prohibited or not, should be determined at the local level, by local,
"community standards," whatever that means. I think that stem cell research
is such a hot potato that no one wants to deal with it, and everyone is
passing the problem, the buck, on if they can. An alternate theory is that
everyone likes Michael J. Fox, and Mohammed Ali, so much that they want to
help them out by supporting research that could lead to a treatment or a
cure.
And, it means for us that it's not over 'til it's over. The good
thing, IMO, is that the research will continue in this legal vacuum where,
for the most part, human cloning and stem cell research/somatic cell nuclear
transplantation is not prohibited and is not regulated. The unresolved
moral, ethical issues will continue to chill the progess and the acceptablity
of this research, but the research will continue. Notice Linda Herman's
posting today that 68 per cent of the American public favors stem cell
research ("therapeutic cloning"). BTW, a special thanks to Linda for posting
information on this list about PAN, CAMR, etc. (This is not intended to
diminish my thanks for Murray's tireless efforts in also providing us with
information about these issues).
See: As Congress Stalls, States Pursue Cloning Debate
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/26/politics/26CLON.html?todaysheadlines
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