Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal

Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 12.4 (2002) 391-407

Bioethics and Cloning, Part II

Laura Jane Bishop and Susan Cartier Poland

This is Part Two of a two part Scope Note on Bioethics and Cloning. Part One, which includes a comprehensive introduction to the topic, was published in the September 2002 issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal and as a separate reprint.

Contents for Parts 1 and 2

I. Ethical Perspectives

Andrews, Lori B. The Clone Age: Adventures in the New World of Reproductive Technology. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1999. 264 p.

Andrews sees "a world of difference between reproductive technologies. . ., which allow couples to make up for a missing ingredient in the normal reproductive process, and the technologies now being proposed to let dead men beget children, to reanimate dead fetuses, and to create children with only one genetic parent. The former techniques meet existing needs, while the latter create needs . . . " (p. 256). She asserts that the same ethical and legal concerns about other reproductive technologies also apply to cloning, namely, "excessive commercialization, reckless experimentation on women, procedures undertaken without consent, unmonitored physical and psychological risks." Andrews believes that scientists ought to have borne the burden of proof and been required "to [End Page 391] give a good reason rather than a false promise before they began [cloning], to show why it was really necessary, and to design a system from the start to protect the participants" (p. 258).

Bioethics Advisory Committee (Singapore). Ethical, Legal and Social Issues in Human Stem Cell Research, Reproductive and Therapeutic Cloning: A Report from the Bioethics Advisory Committee, Singapore. Singapore: The Committee, June 2002; 1 v. (various pagings). [Available at http://www.bioethics-singapore.org/bac/index.jsp.]

The Committee recommends a complete ban on cloning human embryos for the purpose of reproduction, but would permit therapeutic cloning under strict regulation by a statutory body to be established for that purpose.

Bonnicksen, Andrea L. Crafting a Cloning Policy: From Dolly to Stem Cells. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2002. 220 p.

In the last chapter, "Toward Responsible Policymaking," Bonnicksen distinguishes four policy approaches (broad or narrow legislation, existing regulation or adjustments to it) to cloning. Mindful of change in both politics and science, she favors adjusting existing regulation as the best way to promote future discussion, debate, and deliberation.

Brannigan, Michael C. Ethical Issues in Human Cloning: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives. New York: Seven Bridges Press, 2001. 244 p.

Drawing together essays from the perspectives of science, religion, philosophy, and law, Brannigan provides a useful anthology of resources for classroom use or personal study.

Brock, Dan W. Human Cloning and Our Sense of Self. Science 296 (5566): 314-16, 12 April 2002.

Brock responds to three philosophical arguments that cloning affects identity. He holds that cloning can only undermine genetic uniqueness, not full individuality; cloning does not change the equal moral value and respect due all persons as persons; and any feared loss of freedom or an open future comes from a mistaken belief in genetic determinism.

Cohen, Cynthia, ed. Special Issue: Ethics and the Cloning of Human Embryos. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 4 (3): 187-289, September 1994.

Prompted by reported cloning by embryo splitting at George Washington University in Washington, DC, authors offer a full discussion of the concerns raised by human cloning by whatever means. Articles include Ruth Macklin's "Splitting Embryos on the Slippery Slope: Ethics and Public Policy" and the National Advisory Board on Ethics in Human Reproduction's (NABER) "Report on Human Cloning through Embryo Splitting: An Amber Light."

Danish Council of Ethics. Cloning—Statements. Copenhagen: The Council, 2002. 51 p. [Available at http://www.etiskraad.dk/sw329.asp.]

Although individual Council members differ on the moral status of the early human embryo and the ethical defensibility of doing research on early human embryos (such as creating cloned embryos...