C ommentary
N ovember 26,2003
T ue C lackamas P rint • 3
FACE OFF
Cloning: a breakthrough in science/here to stay Cloning is foolish and shouldn't be tampered with
which is already in practice, but more about
cloning full humans. So far, the U.N. has not
declared human cloning as a “crime against
Michaels Cooper
humanity.” For this, I am breathing easier.
I Shannon Armstead
T he C lackamas P rint
There are some who have claimed to have
B T he C lackamas P rint
already cloned a human. However, they also claim
to have done this with only three years of research
The United Nations voted 80-79 to hold off on
No matter what your moral opinion is on and with great ease. Specifically, I’m referring to
iiuman cloning, it cannot be denyed that the a company called Clonaid, run by a radical group voting for a ban on all forms of human cloning,
which is unfortunate, because this
United Nations is wrong to deny humanity the called the Raelians. They have refused to share
unsound practice is unethical; it
opportunity to better ourselves as a race, their research with the rest of the respected
devalues human life and should
through the research of human cloning.
medical world, making many skeptics
therefore be banned without
When the phrase “human cloning” stirs up to their claims.
hesitation.
A ban by the U.N. on all
images of a science-fiction future where we all
There are two forms of
look, talk and think the same, thanks to movies human cloning would only
cloning, “reproductive” and
like “Gattica” and “Star Wars II,” why shouldn’t push this organization under
“therapeutic.” Therapeutic
we be rallying against anything with the word ground and almost out of reach
cloning, also called somatic
‘clone” in it?
to the authorities. If human
cell nuclear transfer, refers
While cloning puts horrible pictures in our cloning were to become well-
to cloning specific human
lead of a world where our children are manu regulated like all legal medical
cells, genes and other tissues
factured like a computer from DELL, it is hard procedures, the company
that do not and cannot lead to a
for me to believe that the human race would would be forced to justify
human being. Reproductive
ever take it that far.
itself and share its methods
cloning, on the other hand, is using
Consider nuclear war, for example. Forty with the world. Regulating
cloning technology to create a human
years ago, everyone was sure that it was just a such controversial com
being.
matter of days before we were all wiped out by panies such as Clonaid
The latter has repeatedly been
nuclear missiles from Russia.
would certainly put
shown as a highly fallible practice and
Did that ever happen? No. Didn’t we think some of the public’s
many scientists agree that it should not
beyond a doubt that it would? Yes.-
concerns to rest.
be practiced on human life. Scientists
Yet the human race has never taken it as far
There are those
have successfully cloned a few animals
as our greatest fears have led us to believe.
who might benefit
but the vast majority of pregnancies'have
Now, just because it probably won’t destroy
from
legal,
safe
gone terribly wrong. Some scientists say
the world as we know it doesn’t mean we human
cloning.
cloning healthy humans is virtually
should all go out and get ourselves cloned Presently, we may be
impossible because of their biological
ASAP. The United Nations has a right to be able to inform parents if
make-up.
wary of this new process called “human their child is autistic
The average person should
cloning.” Yes, it should be regulated, but ban before the baby is bom,
have no trouble seeing that repro
ning it outright prevent advancements in med but there is nothing
ductive cloning is a foolish prac-
ical technology.
we can do about it.
tice and most would agree that it
First of all, the most popular type of cloning Again, theoretical-
should be banned. Lord Robert
deals with cloning single organs, like a heart or • ly, this and similar
May, [resident of the Royal Society, the
a kidney. It can be used to grow a heart for diseases could be prevent
United Kingdom's academy of science,
someone with heart disease or a kidney for ed at conception with the help
called reproductive cloning “grossly
someone on dialysis. The process is similar to of human cloning research.
irresponsible.”
cloning a full human, except it deals with repro
Such advances in
Since the majority of scien
ductive cells instead of organ cells as its ground medical science cannot
tists agree that reproductive
work.
be
abandoned
cloning should be banned, the
Recently, the U.N. has been debating about a because of a social
issue of therapeutic cloning is
ban on human cloning. Their discussion is not so stigma on human
what really split the UN vote.
much geared towards cloning of single organs,
cloning.
President Bush sees the importance of banning
the unethical practice of therapeutic cloning, and
America and Costa Rica led the campaign for
abolishing all forms of cloning. They were co
sponsored by 50 other countries.
Germany and France called for a partial-ban,
which would ban reproductive cloning but allow
for therapeutic. They were co-sponsored by 13
other countries. An Iranian call for a two-year
delay would hold off voting for any kind of a ban.
“It’s particularly regrettable that it was by a
margin of only one vote that we will be prevented
from formally registering that more than 100
members of the United Nations favor the pursuit of
the goal of a total ban on human cloning,” said
United States Deputy Ambassador James
Cunningham.
Why did 100 other countries support a ban on
therapeutic cloning?
First of all, the reality of subsequent ’cures’ for
diseases is largely insignificant.
“There are today, no therapies derived from
animal embryo cloning, and it is speculative
whether there ever will be, let alone from human
cloning,” said Representative Dave Weldon, a
member of the House of Representatives Science
Committee and practicing physician.
More importantly, the legalization of therapeu
tic cloning allows for the creating and subsequent
killing of human embryos. Those who support
therapeutic cloning would justify it by saying that
embryos are not really human life. However, this
is not the case.
“Each human being has 46 chromosomes; at
fertilization, every one of those 46 chromosomes
are present,” said human embryologist Ronan
O'Rahilly.
After fertilization, the embryo does not
become any other kind of thing, it simply divides
and grows bigger and bigger and as such it is
human life.
It takes abstract reasoning to tell us first that an
embryo is a human being, and then follow that
basis to the eventual conclusion that therapeutic
cloning is murder that values 'research' over the
value of every human life.
Medical doctor and bioethicist Megan Best
sums up the immorality of therapeutic cloning
when she says, “It is unethical to view a human
being-regardless of its age-as a means to an end.”
Step up to the feeding trough folks, it's time to go wild!
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Cory Price
Co Editor-in-Chief
As we enter into the holiday sea
son tomorrow with an opening day of
gluttonous gorging, better known as
Thanksgiving, I would like to take this
time to reflect some feelings about
this day of thanks.
Let's begin with the food, since
this is the dominant activity in which
people gratefully participate in on this
day of thanks. There are not many
days in the year when people have the
excuse to gorge themselves so full that
pant sizes jump up a couple of notch
es. This is also the only day of the
year we Americans make what a
sumo eats look like a carnivore in a
salad bar.
Every year, I hear people com
plaining about how tired they are after
a big holiday feast, and they blame it
What
on the turkey. What did poor ol' Tom
do to deserve this treatment? He does
contain an amino acid called trypto
phan, but doctors say his levels of this
chemical are too low to make some
one drowsy. Instead, blame it on the
fact that everyone just ate more food
than an Ethiopian would see in a life
time.
The best thing about this all-out
eating fest is the lifetime supply of
leftovers. A man can make turkey
sandwiches until the next year's feast
ing session. My all-time favorite,
though, has to be leftover scalloped
potatoes. Just throw a plate full in the
microwave and minutes later it’s
Thanksgiving all over again.
The funniest thing about this day
of gorging, though, is how people roll
out of bed the next morning for the
first official day of the Christmas
shopping season.-
And what do they go buy?
Underwear and socks! This world has
gone too far. People drag themselves
are
your
T he
C lackamas P rint
19600 S Molalla Ave.
Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 657-6958
The Clackamas Print is a weekly student
publication and is distributed every
Wednesday except during finals week.
feelings
on
ting at home, spend the rest of the time
playing a local game of Ttirkey Bowl.
One other alternative to suggest to
the corporate giants is changing the
time. They could air it from 8-10 a.m.
and move the afternoon football up to
10 a.m. So then the breakdown for
the day would be play football, watch
football, watch more football and then
have a giant feast That way, Mom
doesn't fight with Dad, Grandpa or
anyone else for that matter, over foot
ball being on during dinner.
A great new tradition would be
adding a night game to the line-up.
This would create an entire day full of
the great American sport of football.
Stop bitching about Thanksgiving
being a family holiday! Americans
have forgotten the meaning of "fami
ly time." Let me tell you something
about the original Thanksgiving. It
was a three-day celebration and giv
ing of thanks for the harvest
So why invite that crazy uncle of
yours or that cousin twice-removed?
human
Jessica
Poggi
“I think that embryonic cloning
for the purposes of human dis
eases could be helpful for
humankind.”
“I think it’s just wrong, moral
wise.”
Co Editors-in-Chief:
Advertising Manager:
Production Assistants:
Cyndee Mady and Cory Price
Copy Editor: Katie Funk
News Editor: Jared Eschweiler
Opinion Editor: Pete Ford
Feature Editor: Karen Hill
A&E Editor: Isaiah Creel
Sporte Editor: Nie Delzell
Mark Falling, ext. 2578
Tech/Design Editor: Robb Egan
Staff Writers: Shannon Armstead,
Michaele Cooper, Earl England,
Shingo Izumi, Karlin Johnson,
Frank Jordan, Jesse Lamond,
Jessica Le Claire, Ben Maras
Megan Cline, Tamie Johnson,
Maggie Leniger, Shannon
Nielsen, Justin Orton,
Carmen Richard
Adviser: Linda Vogt
“Do it, don’t do it Doesn’t matter
to me.”
Department assistant:
Lauren Vulsteke
Thanksgiving is a celebration
where you should only call someone
you want to share a time of thanks
with.
Set aside the gorge fest and over
sized balloons of Mr. Moneybags the
Monopoly guy. Don't call Uncle
Ralph, the one who has a funny odor
and rambles all night about the good
days, or Aunt Edna, who pinches
everyone's cheeks until they're as red
as the cranberry sauce.
Instead, how about calling up a
Native American friend. Invite him
over, but make sure he says "how"
when he comes to the door and is
wearing his buckskins and chiefs
feather hat. This is sure to make an
authentic Thanksgiving feast for all to
remember.
At least shut up about another hol
iday that you “have” to do. Call up
some friends, get together, have a few
non-alcoholic beverages and have a
good time into the wee hours of the
night.
cloning?
Somer
Erickson
Kevin
Palan
Charles
Meeker
“I think it’s probably bad because
people have souls. A clone
wouldn’t have a soul because it
wasn’t created by God.”
out of bed at the butt crack of dawn to
the mall and fight over once-a-year
deals on undergarments.
A lit
tle old lady turns into a raving lunatic
and will resort to violence if you get in
line in front of her at the fabric store.
Let's put shopping aside and keep
the leftovers simmering on the back
burner. It's time to talk about the early
morning tradition of watching Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Over 2 million people brave the
elements to line the streets of New
York City; over 40 million spend pre
cious hours at home viewing the spec
tacle on TV.
When the marching bands come
by to break up the monotony of over
sized, helium-filled cartoon charac
ters, all I hear is the same song. Over
and over, every band carries the same
tune.
Why do millions spend three
entire hours watching this tedious pro
cession? Let's axe the parade down to
one or two hours! Then, instead of sit
Frank
Boothby
“I feel in certain cases it would
probably be beneficial, but it
would have to be severely regu
lated.”
Goals: The Clackamas Print aims to
report the news in an honest, unbiased,
professional manner. The opinions
expressed do not necessarily reflect those
of the student body, college administration,
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