Church executive testifies for ban on human cloning
5/4/2001
WASHINGTON (UMNS) - The United Methodist Church opposes human cloning and urges that it be banned, an executive with the denomination's social advocacy agency told a U.S. Senate subcommittee.
Jaydee Hanson, a Board of Church and Society staff member, quoted the denomination's Book of Resolutions in a hearing of the Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on May 2. He was one of 10 people who testified. The subcommittee chairman is Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), also a United Methodist.
In his remarks, Hanson noted that the General Conference, the church's highest legislative body and the only one that speaks for its 8.4 U.S. million members, urged "a ban on all human cloning, including the cloning of human embryos. This would include all projects, privately or governmentally funded, that are intended to advance human cloning." General Conference took that stand during its 2000 meeting in Cleveland.
The resolution, titled "Human Cloning," is based on the work of the United Methodist Genetic Science Task Force, which began its study in 1989, eight years before a sheep named Dolly was cloned in Scotland, Hanson noted.
"The new biological technologies, including cloning, force us to examine as never before the meaning of life, our understanding of ourselves as humans, and our proper role in God's creation," Hanson said.
"We do not know all the consequences of cloning," Hanson quoted from the resolution. "It is important that the limits of human knowledge be considered as policy is made."
He cautioned that proponents of human cloning will suggest that these technologies are essential in order to conquer serious diseases. "Be wary of the temptation to adopt today's latest technology as the final understanding of God's ways of creating and healing humans," he warned.
General Conference called for a moratorium on cloning-related research because of the theological and moral implications.
Some of the possible ramifications listed in the General Conference statement on human cloning include "(the) use and abuse of people, exploitation of women, (the) tearing of the fabric of the family, the compromising of human distinctiveness, the lessening of genetic diversity." The resolution noted that the direction of research and development on cloning would likely be controlled by corporate profit.
Hanson also quoted from the resolution on "New Developments in Genetic Science," amended and readopted by the 2000 General Conference. It contains a warning that "the prevalent principle in research that what can be done should be done is insufficient rationale ... and should not be the prevalent principle guiding the development of these new technologies."
Currently, legislation to ban human cloning is being considered in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. At the beginning of his testimony, Hanson expressed appreciation for the bill that Brownback introduced (S.R. 790) and said that it was in agreement with the United Methodist Church's position. Hanson also testified at a House committee hearing on cloning several weeks earlier.
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