Dave Weldon is a U.S. Congressman and doctor from Florida. He is the leading sponsor of the bill to ban all human cloning. Based on his background as a medical doctor, he explains why human cloning should be banned. “As a medical doctor, who still sees patients once a month, I am very interested in seeing that we pursue real cures for the diseases that afflict our neighbors, friends, and family members. Fortunately, we can find these cures with alternatives rather than traveling down the path of human cloning and a new eugenics.”

Weldon then explained that adult stem cells have already been used successfully in over 45 clinical trials to treat humans. These cells aren’t susceptible to tumor formation and avoid immune rejection. Indeed, adult stem cells have already been used to treat cancers, restore vision, and treat multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. In contrast, experimen-tal research cloning has been unsuccessful in curing disease in animals and has produced serious genetic abnormalities.

Additionally, there are practical obstacles to clinical success with cloning. It would require numerous eggs, it is inefficient, and the slow development of cloned stem cells make it unlikely to become a routine clinical procedure. Even worse, obtaining these eggs would endanger women. To produce the quantities needed, a large number of women would need to undergo an invasive procedure and use superovulatory drugs with health risks, solely to produce eggs for monetary compensation. Weldon observed, “Research cloning would undoubtedly lead to a new exploitation of women, particularly those with little means.”

Research cloning is a poor allocation of resources. Weldon asked, “Why divert funds away from successful research that is currently being developed and used to treat people?” Furthermore, research cloning is not a stopping point. A ban of only reproductive cloning has already been declared unenforceable by the United States Department of Justice. Additionally, cloning supporters have already admitted that as soon as some of the safety issues are resolved, they want to engage in reproductive cloning. Weldon concluded, “Research cloning will pave the way for reproductive cloning. Any attempt at human cloning, for whatever purpose, is utterly irresponsible.”