Government Affairs Home > Washington Highlights > April 12, 2002

AAMC Issues New Policy Statement on Cloning

April 12, 2002 - The AAMC April 10 issued a new policy statement on cloning. The statement restates the Association's strong opposition to human reproductive cloning, stating that, "To expose any person to the known risks and uncertainties involved in reproductive cloning would be unethical and unconscionable."

The statement stresses that "it is important to recognize the difference between reproductive cloning and the use of cloning technology that does not create a human being." The AAMC statement urges Congress "to oppose legislation that would prohibit research on the use of nuclear transplantation to produce stem cells. Such a blanket prohibition would have grave implications for future advances in medical research and human healing. Since other nations have already decided not to enact such law, a Congressional ban would also pose a serious threat to the continued world leadership of the United States in medical research and biotechnology."

The AAMC statement concludes that, "The current opportunities in medical research are unparalleled in our nation's history, and among the brightest of these is the further study and application of both adult and embryonic stem cell technology. The production of stem cells by nuclear transplantation may yet prove the most powerful and widely beneficial of all. However, we will never see the fulfillment of any of this promise if we choose to take the perilous and unprecedented path of banning through legislation research on nuclear transplantation to produce stem cells."

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