William F. Smith: “Ninety percent of all Americans oppose cloning human beings. And for good reason. The American public recognizes that…”

“Ninety percent of all Americans oppose cloning human beings. And for good reason. The American public recognizes that cloning raises serious ethical questions. Scientists have cloned monkeys, cattle, pigs, mice and other animals. Because of this success, there are a growing number of groups who claim they can, and will, clone a human being. That prospect should worry us. Cloning is a manufacturing process--a scientific assembly line--devoid of procreation. Efforts to improve humanity should never spin out of control and devalue humanity, which is precisely what human cloning does. Our values of faith and family are slowly eroding. Given that fact, we should be mindful that there are certain ethical lines we should never cross. One of the dehumanizing effects of the cloning process is the failure rate. It is extremely high. Those in favor of cloning humans often downplay that it took 277 stillborn, miscarried or dead sheep to make one Dolly. And what happens to those who survive? Attempts to clone human beings could carry massive risks of producing unhealthy, abnormal, and malformed children. I favor a total ban on human cloning because if we allow cloning for any reason, we will be unable to control what is done with cloned embryos. No one is going to monitor every research laboratory. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.”