2 of 3

And media doesn't usually catch that there's been a complete bait and switch. The topics keep changing and the definitions keep changing, and the media haven't kept people apprised of the shifting definitions, which in my view is a strategy to hide and obfuscate what the biotechnology boosters are really after. People should have the factual information on what we're actually being asked to vote upon, presented in a simple and accurate way that they can understand.

Another big scam initiative supporters are pushing is that they claim it will almost pay for itself by lowering health costs. But these supposed cures, if they come, are many years away. Moreover, the initiative sponsors want taxpayers to borrow money to pay for research because private investors aren't coming forward. Think about it. If this were really likely to bring about cures any time soon, you would have to beat venture capitalists away with a stick. But the money to pay for cloning and embryonic stem cell research is not flowing from the private sector, so they want the public to pay for the research with borrowed money that is not accountable to the legislature or to the governor. People are going to be convinced to borrow money that this state can't afford on the false promise that we'll see material benefits. It's a corruption of science. Basically, they are trying to buy a law for themselves. This is the kind of big money power grab, that, if it benefited the oil industry or big pharmaceuticals, or any other special interest other than biotech, the media would be howling.

Who is opposing it?

You have strange political bedfellows, including feminists, environmentalists, doctors, the Catholic Church, and pro-lifers—including people who disagree with each other on abortion. The stereotype is that only religious conservative pro-lifers oppose this. That's flat-out false.

What do you believe the referendum's ethical impact would be?

A constitutional right to engage in human cloning research could lead to reproductive cloning by teaching the world how to reliably make human embryos via somatic cell nuclear transfer. Once that information gets out, the day of the cloned baby will be much closer than it is today. This is important because human cloning is an essential technology to learn how to genetically engineer our progeny, that is, to create designer babies. That is an obvious ethical issue. But here is one that concerns me even more and which has received less attention: When you pass laws authorizing the creation of human life that must be destroyed, you transform that form of humanity into a commodity. Even nascent human life should not be dehumanized in this way. It changes the way we think about what it means to be human and why being human is important. The question we should all be pondering in these debates, I believe, is: "Does human life matter, simply because it is human?" This measure, says "No!" It says, literally, that IVF embryos in excess of need are "products" and that we can create some human lives as an experiment to be destroyed. It's a tremendous objectification of human life. Allowing human cloning is one of the most dangerous biotechnologies for this society, both because of what it will lead to and what it does to our values. And the money we're diverting into human cloning could be put into adult tissue research that are already in early human trials. But this is constantly ignored. Using a patient's own tissues is not the right source of cures, apparently.

next page... |  2 of 3

share this page

August (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48