Don't Rush to Judgment on Dolly: Human Cloning and Its Individual Procreative Liberty Implications
![handle is hein.journals/umkc66 and id is 437 raw text is: DON'T RUSH TO JUDGMENT ON DOLLY: HUMAN
CLONING AND ITS INDIVIDUAL PROCREATIVE
LIBERTY IMPLICATIONS
Debra L. Moore*
There is danger in reckless change; but greater danger in blind
conservatism. '
Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don't know because we don't
want to know. ,2
On February 23, 1997, a technological procedure was unveiled that sent shock-
waves throughout the world: Scottish biotechnologist Dr. Ian Wilmut successfully
cloned an adult sheep named Dolly.'3 This breakthrough made human cloning
seem imminent. Almost immediately, individuals everywhere panicked and called
for a human-cloning ban. Public officials from around the globe responded to the
outcry by proposing legislation to implement the people's desires.4
The panic was fueled by talk of gruesome scenarios straight out of a Dean
Koontz novel- that clones would be created to provide spare body parts, that they
would be used to create a master race,5 or that they would be created to serve as
slaves.6 An Internet cite by a religious cult offering cloning services for upwards
of $200,000 exacerbated the outrage. The cult's website heightened society's fears
by claiming that the next step would be to directly clone an adult person without
having to go through the growth process and to transfer memory and personality
into this person.7
* J.D. candidate May, 1998, University of Missouri-Kansas City. B.A., University of Missouri -
Columbia. Special thanks to Professor Kris W. Kobach, for his invaluable contribution to the
foundation of this Comment. Also thanks to the entire Law Review Board, and in particular, Chris
Wright, J.D. Moore, Jolie Justus, Shannon O'Brien and Kerry Abramson.
1. 3,000 QuOTATIONs ON CHRISTIAN THEMES 42 (Carroll E. Simcox ed., 1975) (1989) (quoting
Henry George) [hereinafter 3,000 QUOTATIONS].
2. Id at 88 (quoting Aldous Huxley).
3. CLONING HUMAN BEINGS: REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE NATIONAL BIOETHIcs
ADVISORY COMMISSION i (1997) [hereinafter CLONING HUMAN BEINGS].
4. Joan Stephenson, Threatened Bans on Human Cloning Research Could Hamper Advances,
227 J. AM. MED. ASS'N. 1023 (1997). Among those calling for an immediate ban are Carl Feldbaumn,
president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization; Daniel Callahan of the Hastings Center; George
Annas of Boston University; and conservative columnist George Will. See Ronald Bailey, The Twin
Paradox: What Exactly is Wrong With Cloning People?, REASON, May 1, 1997, at 52. Dr. Wilmut
even posits that human cloning would be unethical. See Scientific Discoveries in Cloning: Challenges
For Public Policy: Testimony before the Senate Comm. and Human Resources Subcomm. on Labor,
Public Health and Safety, 105th Cong. (1997) (testimony of Dr. Ian Wilmut) [hereinafter Wilmut,
Scientific Discoveries in Cloning].
5. See Ruth Macklin, Human Cloning? Don't Just Say No. Sure, It's a New Technology. But
There's No Evidence Yet That It's Harmful, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REP., Mar. 10, 1997, at 64.
6. See Steven Chapman, For Humans, Cloning Would Be a Natural Technological Step,
ORLANDO SENTINEL, June 16, 1997.
7. Robert Evans, Cult Offers Cloning Via Internet, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRm., June 13, 1997, at](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/umkc66&div=21&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Don't Rush to Judgment on Dolly: Human Cloning and Its Individual Procreative Liberty Implications
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