Crazy talk!

California Assembly Member Lloyd Levine is calling for a ban on pet cloning. Why?

• Pet cloning is unregulated.
• Animal shelters are filled to capacity.
• “Who knows what’s going to happen if these things get released into the wild?”
• Vulnerable people are being exploited.

My response to Mr. Levine:

• Instead of banning pet cloning, why not regulate the industry? Better yet, let people decide for themselves.
• If people are paying good money to clone their beloved pet, what makes you think they are going to end up sending them to an animal shelter? If someone prefers a clone of their pet to a pet from an animal shelter, who are you to judge their preference?
• Things? Sounds like a xenophobic statement. What do you expect to happen?
• The service of cloning is expensive. If someone wants to pay $50,000 for a pet clone, why not? The price will likely come down over the next few years as the technology is improved and competitors enter the market. How exactly are individuals who choose this service being exploited and why are they vulnerable?

This fear of new technology is going too far. What’s next? Banning Apple’s iPod as a weapon of mass destruction?

Human cloning for therapeutic purposes is winning governmental approval in Britain and Japan, among other countries. This new support contrasts with past debate that resulted in the ban of federal funding for such research in the United States. Despite this ban, researchers in the United States early this year reportedly cloned a human embryo and were able to obtain stem cells (the prized so-called “fountain of youth” cells from which most cells in the body differentiate). A team in South Korea also reported similar success.

Progress in stem cell research and cloning has accelerated in recent months, laying the foundation for a technology that could lead to new treatments and cures for many biological ills. This foundation could also lead to human cloning for reproductive purposes, leading to renewed calls for a ban of the technology. While ethical considerations should always be considered, it is doubtful that any such ban would be effective. As expertise and confidence grows, a new competitive atmosphere (among governments as well as researchers) will no doubt ensure continued progress, for good or ill.