Statement in Support of Legislation to Prohibit Cloning

Statement in Support of Legislation to Prohibit Cloning

Statement in Support of Legislation to Prohibit Cloning

We, the undersigned, support legislation to prohibit the cloning of human embryos for either medical experimentation or for giving birth to a human being.

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We, the undersigned, support legislation to prohibit the cloning of human embryos for either medical experimentation or for giving birth to a human being. Although we may differ in our views regarding reproductive issues, we agree that a human embryo should not be cloned for the specific intention of using it as a “resource” for medical experimentation or for producing a baby. Moreover, we believe that the market for women’s eggs that would be created by this research will provide unethical incentives for women to undergo health-threatening hormone treatment and surgery.

We are also concerned about the increasing bio-industrialization of life by the scientific community and life science companies and shocked and dismayed that clonal human embryos have been patented and declared to be human “inventions.” We oppose efforts to reduce human life and its various parts and processes to the status of mere research tools, manufactured products, commodities and utilities. We are also deeply troubled that at present there is no legal or ethical framework in place to regulate the accelerated commercial exploitation of this research.

We are mindful of the tragic history of social eugenics movements in the first half of the 20th century, and are united in our opposition to any use of biotechnology for a commercial eugenics movement in the 21st century.

Stanley Aronowitz
The Graduate Center, CUNY

Benjamin Barber
Kekst Professor of Civil Society
University of Maryland, Democracy Collaborative

Susan E. Bell
A. Myrick Freeman Professor of Social Sciences
Bowdoin College, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology

Philip L. Bereano
University of Washington, Dept. of Technical Communication

Wendell Berry

Rajani Bhatia
Coordinator
Committee on Women, Population and the Environment

Norman Birnbaum
Professor Emeritus
Georgetown University

Madeline Boscoe
Canadian Women’s Health Network

Fritjof Capra
Director
Center for Ecoliteracy

Erwin Chargaff
Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry
Columbia University

Harvey Cox
Professor of Divinity
Harvard University

Phyllis Creighton
Research Associate, Faculty of Divinity
Trinity College, University of Toronto

Irene W. Crowe
President
Pettus Crowe Foundation

Herman Daly
Professor
University of Maryland

Alice J. Dan
Director, Center for Research on Women and Gender; Professor, College of Nursing and School of Public Health
University of Illinois at Chicago

Kristin Dawkins
Vice President
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Margrit Eichler
Director, Institute for Women’s Studies and Gender Studies
New College, University of Toronto

Matthew Fox
President
University of Creation Spiritual

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese
Eleonore Raoul Professor of the Humanities
Emory University

Eugene D. Genovese

Todd Gitlin
Professor of Culture, Journalism and Sociology
New York University

Donna Haraway
Professor
University of California at Santa Cruz

Debra Harry
Executive Director
Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism

Paul Hawkin
Director
Natural Capital Institute

Hazel Henderson
Author

Martha R. Herbert
Pediatric Neurologist
Massachusetts Gen. Hospital; Harvard Medical School

Ruth Hubbard
Professor Emeritus
Harvard University

Deborah Kaplan
Executive Director
World Institute on Disability

Anne S. Kasper, PhD
First Chair, Board of Directors
National Women’s Health Network

Naomi Klein
Journalist and Author “No Logo”

David Korten
President
People-Centered Development Forum

Sheldon Krimsky
Professor
Tufts University, Urban and Environmental Policy

Michael Lerner
Editor
Tikkun Magazine

Judith Levine
Author and Activist

Abby Lippman
Professor
McGill University

Norman Mailer
Writer

Jerry Mander
President
International Forum on Globalization

Charles Margulis
Greenpeace Genetic Engineering Campaign
Greenpeace

Jacob Needleman
Professor of Philosophy
San Francisco State University

Stuart Newman
Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy
New York Medical College

Rina Nissim
Naturopath and Author

David Noble
Professor of History
York University

Judy Norsigian
Executive Director
Boston Women’s Health Collective

Cheri Pies, MSW DrPH
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
University of California, Berkeley

Barbara Pillsbury, PhD
Vice President
International Health & Development Associates

Marcus Raskin
Co-founder of Institute for Policy Studies
Institute for Policy Studies

Susan M. Reverby
Professor of Women’s Studies
Wellesley College

Jeremy Rifkin
President
Foundation on Economic Trends

Mark Ritchie
President
Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy

Theodore Roszak
Professor of History
California State University, Hayward

Margie Schaps
Executive Director
Illinois Women’s Health Collective

Juliet Schor
Professor of Sociology
Boston College

Lillian Shirley
Director
Multnomah County Health Department

Evelyne Shuster, PhD
Board Member of Global Lawyers and Physicians
University of Pennsylvania

Huston Smith
Professor
Syracuse University

Wesley J. Smith
Author/Consumer Advocate

Margaret O’Brien Steinfels
Editor
Commonweal

Maureen Sullivan
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
Northern Illinois University

Marty Teitel, PhD
President
Council for Responsible Genetics

Nancy M. Theriot
Professor and Chairperson, Women’s Studies
University of Louisville

Leonore Tiefer, PhD
Clinical Asso. Professor of Psychiatry
New York University School of Medicine

Maria Isabel Ibarrola Uriarte
General Coordinator
CIDHAL, A.C.

Judy Wicks
President
White Dog Café

Patricia J. Williams
Professor of Law
Columbia University

Susan Yanow
Director
Abortion Access Project

Quentin D. Young, MD
Former President of the American Public Health Association
American Public Health Association

Howard Zinn, PhD

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