|
Contacts: Patients Reporters Only |
|
|
November 6, 1998 New Regulatory Model for Human Cloning Technology Proposed by Penn Bioethicist Center for Bioethics' Glenn McGee, Ph.D., joins cloning pioneer Ian Wilmut, Ph.D., in an innovative approach for the future regulation of human reproductive technologies A model for the regulation of human cloning techniques--based on the adoption model--has been published by assistant professor of bioethics Glenn McGee, Ph.D., of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and Ian Wilmut, Ph.D., of the Roslin Institute in Scotland. Their research, published in a new book edited by McGee, The Human Cloning Debate (1998, Berkeley Hills Books), is the first step in a much-needed discussion. "Cloning is the most difficult regulatory challenge of the 21st century," declares McGee, who is also a 1998 Atlantic Fellow in Public Policy for the British Government. "The United States, the United Kingdom, and virtually every other government in the world is struggling to figure out some way to allow science to move forward, protect reproductive freedom, and protect children at the same time." McGee and Wilmut propose an approach they call the Adoption Model for Human Cloning. According to the authors, the key issue in new reproductive technologies is not how unconventional the method, but how it will affect any children who would be born as a result of that method. They believe that the only sound system in the world yet devised for protecting children of new types of families is that of adoption. According to McGee, adoption is a good metaphor for how many new reproductive technologies will need to be governed in the 21st century. McGee explains, "Adoption has three emphases: making sure that the parents who want to use the technology can provide a safe home for a special child, before the go-ahead for a new family is socially sanctioned; making sure that research is conducted on the outcomes of placement; and finally, allowing different jurisdictions to have different approaches to making families and new technology." Both McGee and Wilmut agree that a global ban on cloning is desirable. They feel the attention needs to be focused on the products of these new reproductive technologies: the children. "That being the case, family courts are better equipped to handle the load than any national or local legislature," says McGee. In addition to The Human Cloning Debate, McGee is the author of The Perfect Baby, (Rowman & Littlefield, 1997), a book on genetics and parenthood. He is also associate director of education at Penn's Center for Bioethics, where he serves as director of the Bioethics Internet Project, the Center's website (www..med.upenn.edu/bioethic/). McGee is recognized as an international expert on numerous bioethical issues including cloning, infertility protocols and genetics. |
|
