"The potential market is huge." ”” Simon Best, vice-chair of the Bio-Industry Association on the UK's human embryo cloning vote
Looks like recent bio-industry delight at developments in the UK may now be giving way to anxiety as the industry sees its timetable pushed out of joint by groups of entrepreunerial scientists and others keen to move quickly to full human cloning. This risks the kind of global outrage which might put at risk other types of cloning and would make replicating the UK human-embryo success much more difficult.
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BIO Urges Bush to Continue Moratorium on Cloning Human Beings
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010201/dc_bio_bus.html
Biotechnology Industry Organization
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Following recent announcements by certain groups of plans to clone human beings, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today sent a letter to President George W. Bush urging him to support continuation of the current voluntary moratorium on these experiments. Contact BIO for a copy of the letter.
BIO was among the first to support a moratorium on cloning human beings in 1997 following announcement of the cloning of the sheep Dolly,'' said BIO President Carl B. Feldbaum. ``We supported the moratorium because the specific technology involved in cloning a human being was unsafe and because the prospect of cloning humans raises profound moral, religious and bioethical concerns.
``Today the technology to clone a human being still is not safe and the full range of moral and ethical concerns still has not been addressed. We believe the current moratorium on cloning humans should remain until our nation has had time to fully explore the impact of such cloning.''
Feldbaum stressed that BIO supports cloning of specific human cells, genes and other tissues that do not and cannot lead to a cloned human being. These techniques are integral to biotechnology research and to the production of breakthrough medicines, diagnostics and vaccines to treat heart attacks, various cancers, Alzheimer's, diabetes, hepatitis and other diseases.
This type of cloning could also produce replacement skin, cartilage and bone tissue for burn and accident victims, and result in ways to regenerate retinal and spinal cord tissue.
BIO represents more than 940 biotechnology companies, academic institutions and state biotech centers in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health- care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.
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Today's market is "totally manipulated" by the major economic and political powers, "is blind to the poor, who have needs but do not represent demand, blind to the future generations who are not present, and blind to creation, to life" - Jos Lutzenberger, former environment minister of Brazil
"the benefits of biotechnology are innumerable and clearly visible... The benefits of biotechnology percolate to every section and institution of the society ”” it is sheer bliss for all." ”” India's business paper 'The Economic Times'
"Scientists are very good at getting hot under the collar, firing pompous round-robins to national newspapers, complaining about "irresponsible" media and the "ignorant" public (that's us, folks). They should get off their high horses; remove the beams from their own eyes; ask whose side they are on; consider that they are citizens, too, and as such are moral beings; consider that the morality of the scholarship they espouse is not just that of the prevailing government, or of commerce." ”” Colin Tudge