CLINTON ASKS PANEL TO LOOK INTO CLONING.Byline: The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Reacting to what the White House called the ``very startling star·tle v. star·tled, star·tling, star·tles v.tr. 1. To cause to make a quick involuntary movement or start. 2. To alarm, frighten, or surprise suddenly. See Synonyms at frighten. news'' that scientists in Scotland had successfully cloned a mammal, President Clinton on Monday asked a federal bioethics bioethics, in philosophy, a branch of ethics concerned with issues surrounding health care and the biological sciences. These issues include the morality of abortion, euthanasia, in vitro fertilization, and organ transplants (see transplantation, medical). advisory commission to review the research implications for human beings and report back to him in 90 days. The White House spokesman, Mike McCurry, said the commission, which was appointed last summer to review questions of biogenetic bi·o·gen·e·sis also bi·og·e·ny n. 1. The principle that living organisms develop only from other living organisms and not from nonliving matter. 2. Generation of living organisms from other living organisms. 3. research, had not been asked to reach any conclusion or make specific recommendations for legislation or regulation, only to ``review the legal and ethical implications of this technology.'' McCurry said that the president had been moved to act after reports that an embryologist em·bry·ol·o·gist n. A specialist in embryology. embryologist an expert in embryology. at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh had replaced the genetic material of a sheep's egg with the DNA DNA: see nucleic acid. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid One of two types of nucleic acid (the other is RNA); a complex organic compound found in all living cells and many viruses. It is the chemical substance of genes. from an adult sheep and created a lamb that is a clone of the adult. McCurry said he was not aware of any existing regulations that would ban such research on animals in this country. Earlier in his administration, Clinton signed an executive order banning the use of federal funds to create human embryos for research purposes, and Congress has also banned such financing. In his letter to the commission on Monday, Clinton said the Scottish breakthrough ``represents a remarkable scientific discovery, but one that raises important questions.'' Clinton asked for ``a thorough review of the legal and ethical issues associated with the use of this technology,'' and ``recommendations on possible federal actions to prevent its abuse.'' ``While this technological advance could offer potential benefits in such areas as medical research and agriculture, it also raises serious ethical questions, particularly with respect to the possible use of this technology to clone human embryos,'' the president said. McCurry said the commission, which is headed by Harold Shapiro, an economist who is the president of Princeton University Princeton University is led by a President selected by the Board of Trustees. Until the accession of Woodrow Wilson, a political scientist, in 1902, they were all clergymen, as well as professors. President Tilghman is a biologist; her two predecessors were economists. , could consider a host of questions, including whether the ban on federally financed human embryo creation should be expanded to cover private institutions. |
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