Learn lessons from Korean cloning scandal, bishops' official says

Published: 2006-03-08

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Korean human cloning scandal should be instructive for U.S. policy, an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told a congressional hearing March 7. The official, Richard M. Doerflinger, said there are good scientific and political reasons, as well as ethical ones, for not trying to clone human embryos in the search for "miracle cures" for various diseases. Doerflinger, a member of the bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, delivered oral and written testimony at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources. He called on Congress to enact "a complete ban on human cloning and ... legislation to prevent the mistreatment of women as egg factories for research or as surrogate incubators for unborn children grown for their body parts." The scandal he referred to began with the announcement two years ago by a South Korean research team that it had successfully cloned human embryos. It later turned out that the scientists had falsified their research after failing to clone even one embryo despite attempts on more than 2,000 human eggs. It also turned out they had violated government ethics rules in the way they obtained the eggs.

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