George Annas

George Annas is chair of the Department of Health Law at Boston University. On March 12, 1997, just a few weeks after it was reported that scientists had successfully cloned a sheep, Annas testified before Congress that cloning technology should not be applied to humans. In the following viewpoint, excerpted from his testimony, Annas maintains that human cloning is morally objectionable and that there is no good reason that experiments in human cloning should be allowed. Annas suggests that a federal agency be created to regulate all experiments involving humans. Such an agency, he believes, might permit experiments that involve cloning human cells for research purposes, but should not allow the resulting cloned embryos to be implanted into a human.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. In Annas’s words, why is the prospect of human...