http://www.frcblog.com/2009/07/change-watch-dr-francis-collins/ The Blog of Family Research Council Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:09:56 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.frcblog.com/2009/07/change-watch-dr-francis-collins/comment-page-1/#comment-2022 FRC Blog » Change Watch: Keeping track of the Obama administration Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:12:17 +0000 http://www.frcblog.com/?p=1441#comment-2022 [...] Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health [...] [...] Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health [...]

]]> http://www.frcblog.com/2009/07/change-watch-dr-francis-collins/comment-page-1/#comment-1816 FRC Blog » New NIH Director Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:12:42 +0000 http://www.frcblog.com/?p=1441#comment-1816 [...] is expected, since Collins helped President Obama develop his new policy on embryonic stem cells. Dr. Collins supports use of “excess” human embryos, as well as cloning of human embryos for experiments, [...] [...] is expected, since Collins helped President Obama develop his new policy on embryonic stem cells. Dr. Collins supports use of “excess” human embryos, as well as cloning of human embryos for experiments, [...]

]]> http://www.frcblog.com/2009/07/change-watch-dr-francis-collins/comment-page-1/#comment-1730 Kelly G. Smith Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:32:34 +0000 http://www.frcblog.com/?p=1441#comment-1730 Collins is wrong to state that an embryo created via cloning falls short of the same moral status of an embryo created by union of sperm and egg -- for if we hypothetically advance the age of those embryos, we can see that if we accept his claim, we would also have to accept that a newborn, toddler, teen or adult created by cloning would have less moral status than a normally conceived newborn, toddler, teen or adult. Not only would we not accept that idea, but we would condemn discrimination against those older cloned individuals and recognize any attempt to use such people for medical experiments and spare parts as a crime against humanity -- so why would we accept it in the case of the youngest cloned individuals. Regardless of how they are created, once you have an embryo, you have an individual member of the human species -- that is why Collins is also incorrect to distinguish between so-called "reproductive" cloning and cloning for medical research -- reproduction is the process by which the individual is created, not the process by which it is nurtured and brought to birth or any other later stage of development. All cloning is reproductive. The question is whether you will kill the offspring as in embryonic stem cell research, or give it sustenance in what would be more correctly called "gestative" cloning, which, objectionable as we may find it, at least (generally) views the child as an end rather than a means as opposed to the "clone and kill" research Collins defends. Collins is wrong to state that an embryo created via cloning falls short of the same moral status of an embryo created by union of sperm and egg — for if we hypothetically advance the age of those embryos, we can see that if we accept his claim, we would also have to accept that a newborn, toddler, teen or adult created by cloning would have less moral status than a normally conceived newborn, toddler, teen or adult. Not only would we not accept that idea, but we would condemn discrimination against those older cloned individuals and recognize any attempt to use such people for medical experiments and spare parts as a crime against humanity — so why would we accept it in the case of the youngest cloned individuals. Regardless of how they are created, once you have an embryo, you have an individual member of the human species — that is why Collins is also incorrect to distinguish between so-called “reproductive” cloning and cloning for medical research — reproduction is the process by which the individual is created, not the process by which it is nurtured and brought to birth or any other later stage of development. All cloning is reproductive. The question is whether you will kill the offspring as in embryonic stem cell research, or give it sustenance in what would be more correctly called “gestative” cloning, which, objectionable as we may find it, at least (generally) views the child as an end rather than a means as opposed to the “clone and kill” research Collins defends.

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