Vol.8 No.6
Cloning Humans
Everyone is asking the questions, If sheep can be cloned, when will humans be cloned? Should humans be cloned?
Harold Shapiro, chairman of President Clinton’s taskforce committee on cloning, said, “This [investigation] is not going to end in 90 days. Now that we have this technology, we have some hard thinking ahead of us.”
Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, believes the first infant clone could be “produced” within seven years.
Cloning polarizes our society. One side views it as an ingenious breakthrough. The other views it as a wicked device to further our society’s estrangement from God. Harold Varmus, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) stated that cloning a person is “repugnant to the American public.” However, John Fletcher, former ethicist for the NIH, said, “The reasons for opposing this are not easy to argue.”
In a recent poll by Time and CNN, 74% of those asked if cloning human beings is against God’s will responded “yes,” while 19% responded “no.”
Time, March 10, 1997.
Vol.9 No.5
Infanticide at fantasy land
Amusement parks are the stuff family memories are made of. And who wants to slow their nonstop thrills as they hurry into the rest room? But on Nov. 8, 1997 an unsuspecting tourist found a live, newborn baby floating in a women’s lavatory at Disney World.
Obviously left for dead, the victim had miraculously survived its unusual birth. When E.M.T.’s responded from nearby Arnold Palmer Hospital, they found the infant to be a full-term, seven-pound girl. Within two hours, the baby’s body temperature and pulse had increased, and her vital signs were good. A spokesperson for the hospital said, “She was very cute.”
Sadly, no one came forward to claim the child. And within minutes of the discovery, it was business as usual at Disney World. In all likelihood, the baby’s birth mother probably resumed her ride on the rollercoaster we Americans call amusement. Apparently, having to be responsible for a newborn baby wasn’t part of her entertainment package.
The point is, whether it’s the marketers at Disney World or a scared unwed teen, our culture panders to the pursuit of human pleasure. While many Christians are appalled at the news of a baby born in a toilet, we rationalize that “it’s not our problem.” The truth is, nine months earlier, we should have offered truth and compassion to that child’s mother— before her attempt at manslaughter in the magic kingdom.
www.rutherford.org
LG comments: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12).
Vol.10 No.3 
Controversial Cloning
Nearly two years ago, a sheep named Dolly made headlines when she became the first animal cloned from an adult cell. Unlike previous clones, Dolly was made from a specialized or differentiated cell. The mature cell had to first be “reprogrammed” before it could be cloned. For this reason, many scientists believed Dolly to be a fake until two scientists in Hawaii cloned dozens of mice in the same way. “It’s a skill,” one of them commented, “but it can be acquired by mortals.”
What will result from this new science? It is hoped that animals could genetically engineer human proteins, pigs could grow replacement organs for humans, drugs could be manufactured in goat’s milk, and possibly race horses could be duplicated. But will the cloning of humans be next? No one knows for certain, but such alterations could lead to it. One U.S. scientist has already vowed to clone himself in his first step toward immortality. On the other hand, a national forum conducted by USA Weekend found that the populace thinks different. When asked, Should humans be cloned? The readers’ response: 10% said Yes, while 90% said No!
Time, August 3, 1998; Newsweek, August 3, 1998; National Catholic Register, September 20–26, 1998; USA Weekend, October 16–18, 1998.
Vol.10 No.5
Terminator Seeds
New seeds have been invented that have been both praised by some but slandered by many. Monsanto Corp. aims to force customers to stay loyal to their business agreements and not use seeds from last year’s harvest, by selling seeds that turn sterile after the first season’s use.
Inserted in the seed is a seed-killing toxin from another plant as well as two other bits of coding that keep the killer gene dormant until late in the crop’s development when it would kill only the seed and not the plant. Some have dubbed them the “Terminator,” and already its protesters have flooded the U.S. Department of Agriculture with 4000 letters from 62 different countries.
The dreaded scenario is farmers coming to Monsanto every year with fresh orders for more seeds before they can replant next year’s seeds. Some doomsday deliverers even predict the pollen travelling in the air and causing mass destruction of all plant life.
While seeming a little far-fetched, the consequences could be profound, especially in the developing world. There, farmers rely on this year’s seeds to produce next year’s, and would not be able to afford new seeds every year for the crops. Monsanto argues, however, that increased production would allow the farmers to be able to afford the new seeds every year, but in areas of uncertain and erratic weather such trust would be unwise. In some third world countries, such as India, the outrage has been quite intense, with a campaign called “Cremate Monsanto” where protesters set fire to company test sites.
However, progress has and will be slow due to legal battles. And while there are many reasons why this crop will not work, the possibilities of what might happen if it does is the worry. Man should be wary of playing Frankenstein with nature.
Time, February 1, 1999.
Vol.10 No.6
UNHEALTHY Clones
The future of cloning has suffered a huge blow. Recent studies show that cloned cows are ten times more likely to be unhealthy than naturally bred counterparts. With cloned cows, the embryos look fine and abnormalities are not seen until 8 months of gestation. Some suggest that part of the problem is that genes only come from one parent and not two, thus creating an imbalance. Also, the cloning process is new and still developing. One “expert,” having a 1% “success” rate, described this as an encouraging figure. U.S. News & World Report, May 24, 1999.
LG Comment: Unnatural reproduction seems doomed. Man was made in the image of God, and it was God’s plan that he reproduce in the natural way. “So God created man in his own image … male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth …” (Genesis 1:27, 28).
Nato’s New Alliance—War in the Making?
The new philosophic concept of NATO anticipates the formation of an anti-Western alliance.
In fact, NATO could now be seen as a military threat to its neighbors. In addition to restoring order to a de-stabilized region, “It is now clear that the new NATO, not unlike the Soviet Union before it, is an ideological construct which is prepared to use force to impose its concept of world order on its neighbors and beyond. This is currently the alliance’s stated and open policy.”
NATO’s primary purpose is to safeguard its member countries against a very broad range of both military and nonmilitary threats. These include cultural rivalries, territorial disputes, abuse of human rights, failed attempts at reform, dissolution of the state, uncontrolled movement of large numbers of people and attempts to acquire nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. Any other conflicts that “pose a direct military threat to the Allies’ populations, territory and forces” are also included. The list of threats to which NATO can respond with military action is far reaching, both politically and geographically. Territorial boundaries, designating the Euro-Atlantic and surrounding areas, are vague. However, NATO’s military committee chairman General Klaus Naumann stated that boundaries also extended to “nations resting on its periphery from Morocco to the Indian Ocean.” Looking at an atlas, this includes a huge range of countries. NATO has also stated that stationing nuclear weapons in the Ukraine could be a threat to the stability of Europe, meaning this act may justify military intervention and could lead to war.
Intelligence Digest, April 30, 1999.
LG Comment: With no one to answer to, NATO’s intervention in Kosovo provides a precedent for the future. This overreaching of power shows clear signs of NATO establishing a global military force that is prepared to fight a war against any country that poses a threat to its member nations for virtually any reason.
Vol.11 No.1
Darwin’s Deadly Harvest
The 1993 decision by U.S. President Bill Clinton to lift the ban on fetal-tissue research has paralleled the increase of buying and selling human remains for profit. Today, medical researchers pay large fees, ranging from $100 to $1000, for fetuses and other body parts.
This evidence confirms the predictions of pro-life bioethicists—that devaluation of human life would result in increased trafficking in death for profit.
“It’s the inevitable, logical progression of a society that, like Darwin, believes we came from nothing. When we fail to see life as sacred and ordained by God as unique, this the reasonable conclusion … taking whatever’s available to gratify our own self-interests and taking the weakest of the specifies first … like jackals,” said Gene Rudd, obstetrician and member of the Christian Medical and Dental Society’s Bioethics Commission.
World, October 23, 1999.
Vol.12 No.1
ANTI-CLONING CAMPAIGN
An anti-cloning campaign, led by U.S. Representative Dave Weldon, is pushing the White House to pass “legislation that prohibits human cloning and would punish violations with 10 years in prison and a minimum $1 million fine.” In the UK, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has already prohibited human cloning. Hidden facts reveal that “most animal clones die as embryos and others as miscarried or stillborn due to birth defects.” Weldon said, “We cannot allow this scenario to play out with humans.”
World, May 12, 2001, p. 34.
Vol.12 No.5
CHINA AT FOREFRONT OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS
China has become the leading country in developing vast quantities of genetically modified (GM) crops and is thriving in the study of plant biotechnology. “Using its own human and physical capital, China is creating not only a large viable biotechnology research program,
it is working on creating new crops that are important to a developing country and poor people.” Feeding its teeming millions—who comprise one-fifth of the world’s people—is China’s principal goal. The country has cultivated vast areas of GM plants, for the specific objective of expanding produce and curtailing pest outbreaks. Other countries, especially in Europe, have rejected GM technology, but China has readily embraced it. “If China’s GM crops—the most important of which is likely to be rice—are released successfully, the country’s biotechnology expertise could be exported.”
www.asia.cnn.com, February 26, 2002.
Vol.12 No.6
BUSH SUPPORTS TOTAL BAN ON HUMAN CLONING
“As we seek to preserve human life, we must also preserve human dignity—and therefore we must prevent human cloning by stopping it before it starts,” said President George Bush as he publicly gave his support to a Senate bill that totally prohibits human cloning research. Another proposed Senate bill permits therapeutic cloning but bans reproductive cloning. Both bills are pending debate.
President Bush has taken a strong stand against human cloning research, including restriction of federal funds for stem cell experiments.
news.bbc.co.uk, April 10, 2002, “Bush presses for human cloning ban.” |
