A Surprise in the State of the Union

Nigel M. de S. Cameron, President Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future

Critics and boosters of President Bush were both taken by surprise with his strong policy statements in the State of the Union on a range of biotech issues.

Since the press did not highlight the relevant paragraph, here it is:

"A hopeful society has institutions of science and medicine that do not cut ethical corners, and that recognize the matchless value of every life. Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research -- human cloning in all its forms ... creating or implanting embryos for experiments ... creating human-animal hybrids ... and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift from our Creator -- and that gift should never be discarded, devalued, or put up for sale."

This went well beyond the calls he has made for a comprehensive human cloning ban (on research as well as "reproductive" cloning), and the muted though firm support for the appropriations rider that annually underscores existing bipartisan policy in the Patent and Trademarks Office in refusing to issue patents encompassing human embryos.

A series of issues is raised:
- cloning for any purpose;
- creating embryos for research by any means -- which, it should be noted, is prohibited in the Council of Europe's Convention on Human Rights and Bioethics (1997), the one international convention on biotechnology issues;
- implanting embryos for research: this ghoulish prospect may seem unlikely, but a recent state law in New Jersey was crafted in a manner that would make it possible;
- while full-scale human-chimp mixtures (for example) may seem unlikely and a long way off, experimentation at the embryo stage will pave the way to such horrors unless it is plainly curtailed; and
- buying and selling embryos and patenting embryos: whatever view may be taken of unborn human life, there are few who would wish it to be the subject of trade and trafficking.

What these proposals will lead to in legislative terms is not yet clear. But there is no question that the fundamental issues of biotechnology and human nature have been kept at the front of the national debate.

Nigel M. de S. Cameron