Many of the problems seen in recent attempts to clone animals stem from the fact that these clones are replications and not new combinations. I take care of infertile patients every day. I employ a range of medical therapies, many of them quite complicated to help people have the children they so desperately want. My colleagues and I are interested in helping our patients have children and start families. Infertility is an emotional devastating disease.
Infertile patients are desperate.
Anyone who justifies cloning based on requests from infertile patients is pandering to a vulnerable audience. However, we have seen first hand in the U.S., how fear and unwise policy decisions can make it extremely difficult for us to improve the treatments we have available to offer our patients. The decision to deny federal funds for research involving human IVF has harmed the millions of Americans suffering from infertility. I am fearful that a negative decision may be made on stem cell research that will cause needless suffering for patients with heart disease, diabetes or Parkinson s disease. Please do not make these situations worse by enacting new and unneeded prohibition on human cloning.