Manifesto Calls on Ethics and Law to Rein-In Biotechnology
''We desperately need a moral compass to direct our exploration,'' says CWA President Rios.      2/7/2003
By Pamela Wong

On February 5th the issue of cloning heated up. ...

The controversy of life's sanctity versus its utility was starkly illustrated on Wednesday this week, when Christian leaders who oppose cloning met in Washington, D.C., to sign The Sanctity of Life in a Brave New World: A Manifesto on Biotechnology and Human Dignity. Later that day, at a separate press conference, U.S. senators announced legislation that would allow cloning of human embryos only to extract their stem cells, and not to allow them to develop until birth.

CWA President Sandy Rios, along with Charles Colson of Prison Fellowship, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Joni Eareckson Tada of Joni and Friends, and others, signed the Manifesto, a document that outlines a basic moral framework for decision-making in the emerging field of bioethics.

On behalf of the leaders present, Joni Earekson Tada signed the Manifesto. A quadriplegic for 35 years, she has spoken eloquently against the sacrifice of embryos even for research that could potentially restore her ability to walk.

"We know that Congress has the duty and we believe Congress has the will to regulate biotechnology … ," Rios said. "We desperately need a moral compass to direct our exploration of biotechnology."

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), a sponsor of legislation that outlaws all forms of cloning, also spoke. "If we allow a human cloning system to move forward, we're creating a person … ," he said, according to Cybercast News Service (CNS). "Cloning is cloning is cloning."

At the pro-cloning news conference, Dr. David Baltimore, the 1975 Nobel Laureate in Medicine for his cancer research, spoke against Brownback's legislation, which would ban all cloning. On the other hand, Baltimore said he did not support reproductive cloning, which would allow cloned embryos to develop into newborns and be born, because of the increased risk of abnormalities.

"We don't want to bring more defective people into the world," said Baltimore, according to CNS, a statement that reportedly drew audible gasps from the audience.

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