UMC opposes cloning humans to produce babies

A California research facility claims to have taken a step toward creation of human babies through cloning skin cells. The United Methodist Church stands in stark opposition to this development and urges extreme caution in applying this technology.

“The United Methodist Church position on this issue is very clear,” said Linda Bales, director of the Louise and Hugh Moore Population Project at the denomination’s General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) in Washington, D.C. “Our opposition to such developments is based on a belief that God is the creator and our identity as humans is much more than our genetic inheritance, our social environment, or the sum of the two.”

The California researcher’s stated intent for the cloning is to create cells that could be used by patients suffering from various diseases. According to news reports, however, the chief executive of the company acknowledged that the cloning of human babies is “unethical and it’s illegal, and we hope no one else does it either.”

“We don’t know the full ramifications of such research and the long-term consequences,” Bales said. “As with any technological discovery, we are compelled to ask the hard questions applying our Christian teachings and principles. This is not easy, but yet, it’s our mandate.”

The 2004 United Methodist Book of Resolutions in Paragraph 103 “Human Cloning” includes a definitive statement on cloning for purposes of research: “We call for a ban on therapeutic, medical, research, and commercial procedures which generate waste embryos” and calls “on all nations to ban human cloning and to identify appropriate government agencies to enforce the ban.

“Appropriate social and governmental bodies must monitor and guide research and developments in the field. Concern for profit and commercial advantage should be balanced by consideration for individual rights, the interest of wide constituencies, and the common good of future generations.”

The United Methodist Church “welcomes” the use of genetic technology for meeting fundamental human needs for health, a safe environment and an adequate food supply, according to the Social Principles. Paragraph 162(M), “Genetic Technology” declares, though: “We oppose the cloning of humans.”

The research company, Stemagen in La Jolla, Calif., said it grew mature human embryos from cells taken from the company's chief executive and one of its investors. Five embryos grew in laboratory dishes to enough maturity for transfer to a woman's womb, which has not been achieved before from cloned human cells.

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