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Statement in support of the Brownback-Landrieu Human Cloning Prohibition Act (S. 1899)

by the Reverend Dr. Charles B. Nestor
Senior Fellow for Public Policy, National Clergy Council
Senior Pastor of the Manassas Assembly of God Church

I am the Reverend Dr. Charles Nestor, Senior Fellow for Public Policy of the National Clergy Council and Senior Pastor of the Manassas Assembly of God Church in Bristow, Virginia. I have struggled with diagnosed multiple sclerosis, an incurable, progressive, and degenerative disease of the central nervous system for 12 years.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease mentioned prominently among the many that would benefit from so-called but unsubstantiated therapeutic cloning. I support the passage of the Brownback-Landrieu Human Cloning Prohibition Act (S. 1899).

Why has our society rejected the practice of the harvesting of human organs, the medical experimentation on prisoners and mental hospital patients, and the warehousing and passive euthanasia of comatose patients and infirm seniors?

Why is the name Joseph Mengele a metaphor for unethical, immoral, and horrific treatment of human life throughout the civilized world? It is because our culture, informed by its Judeo-Christian ethic, condemns as unacceptable any practice, which would allow one person to benefit by the taking of the life of another.

The people of the United States are renowned for their compassion, generosity, and motivation to relieve the suffering of others. However, this nation has never codified any practice as moral, ethical, or legal, which would permit one human being to be sacrificed without consent for the advantage of another.

The current discussion surrounding human cloning for therapeutic purposes fails philosophically and morally, because it is based on "end-justifies-the means" reasoning. No one would deny the value of cured diseases, or prolonged and increased quality of life. The manner in which these valuable ends are achieved must be equally moral and ethical to be acceptable. Cloning of humans is simply not a right means.

To make the production, sale, and barter of human embryos an acceptable and affirmed practice would devalue human life to the level of a consumer commodity. We as a culture have in practice and in law established that human life is not to be bought, sold, and traded as mere chattel. An industry is waiting to be born that profits from egg harvesting, DNA patenting, and embryo production and marketing.

There are differing views among us as to when human life begins. Some would say at fertilization. Others say at viability or when nurtured within a mother's womb. Still others would opt for the moment of first breath. As long as there is deeply held and profound disagreement on this subject, human cloning must be forestalled by law in this country.

It is a fact that not one successful treatment has come from human somatic cell nuclear transfer. It is a fact that, if such cloned human embryos were implanted within a mother's womb and carried to term, the result would be the birth of a living human child. It is a fact that successful treatments are being developed from non-embryonic stem cells.

The known facts should give us pause and call us to halt a practice, which is fueled by speculation, and promulgated by greed. The majority of people in this country do not want the cloning of humans to occur. This bill should be passed and signed into law because it is the right thing to do. It is the moral and ethical thing to do.

Personally, I long for the day that the myelin cells surrounding my spine are regenerated. I long for the day that I can play golf, that I can play ball with my grandchildren, and that I can walk through the shopping mall with my wife. I would never want that day to come as the result of a human life being sacrificed so that I could benefit.

The passage of the Brownback-Landrieu Human Cloning Prohibition Act (S. 1899) is the right thing. It is the moral thing. It is the civilized thing to do.



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