Joe Pitts: “science is a wonderful thing. Who would have thought that polio could be cured or men could go to the Moon even a…”

“science is a wonderful thing. Who would have thought that polio could be cured or men could go to the Moon even a century ago? But with the power that comes from science, we must also be ethical and exercise responsibility. The Nazis tried to create a race of supermen through the science of eugenics. They tried to create a perfect human being the same way a breeder creates a championship dog. That was immoral. We stopped it, and it has not been tried again since. Now we have some scientists who want to create cloned human beings, some saying a cloned baby could be born as soon as next year. This is a frightening and gruesome reality. Mr. Speaker, there is no ethical way to clone a human being. If we were to allow it at all, we would have to choose between allowing them to grow and be born or killing them, letting them die. This is a line we should not cross. The simple question is: Is it right or wrong to clone human beings? Eighty-eight percent of the American people say it is wrong. The point is that even in science, the ends do not justify the means. The Nazis may in fact have been able to create a race of healthier and more capable Germans if they had been allowed to proceed, but eugenics and cloning are both wrong.”