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PRESS RELEASE February 25, 1997
Contacts: Murry J. Cohen, M.D., Marjorie Cramer, M.D., Ray Greek, M.D.
PHYSICIANS' GROUP SEES A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLONING
The recent cloning of a sheep by a team of Scottish researchers is the culmination of an unholy alliance between agriculture and medical interests - an alliance that:
ignores the dismal track record of previous animal-to-human organ transplant attempts
Overstates the clinical benefits of its products
De-emphasizes cost effective preventative medicine and personal responsibility for health
Favors high-tech fixes for a wealthy few over affordable healthcare for all
Falsely assumes that human and non-human body parts are interchangeable
Promotes an irrational spare-parts approach to health care
Disregards the threat of inter-species virus transmission
TRANSGENIC ANIMALS AS PHARMACEUTICAL
BIOREACTORS
Cloning transgenic animals as pharmaceutical bioreactors to produce pharmaceutical proteins would be less efficient and effective than current cellular techniques because of the enormous costs: 1) animal husbandry, 2) detailed screening, monitoring and treatment programs for endogenous retroviruses and persistent viral infections, 3) building and maintaining animal facilities equipped with special air filtration and security systems, 4) feeding and housing herds of transgenic animals.
Furthermore, the procedure is inherently unsafe. Human proteins produced in animals may be contaminated with animal viruses (akin to HIV or Ebola) harmful to human patients. The scrapie virus (in goats and sheep) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow" disease) are two known viruses
No animal, whether transgenic or otherwise, remains completely free of endogenous viruses, and it is impossible to screen for unknown agents. Finally, there is no proof that animal-derived proteins have any clinical benefit, having only been tested on small groups of HEALTHY individuals.
XENOTRANSPLANTS
Xenotransplantation is an unproven, risk-intensive and costly technology whose dangers have been minimized by federal health authorities and biotechnology companies. Human-to-human transplants can cost up to $200,000 with up to $18,500 a year in post-operative care (for liver transplant patients). Xenografts will surely be more expensive and will not be covered by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance companies. How will our already overbrudened health care system deal with these costs? Xenotransplantation sends the wrong message to doctors and scientists: that it is not important to emphasize prevention; consumers are led tobelieve that they don't have to take care of their bodies because high-tech fixes will save them. The reality is that animal-to-human transplants have been therapeutic failures in all 36 human recipients since 1905; and deadly to 35.
DEGRADATION OF SCIENCE
The science of genetic engineering is driven by a quest for profits, not knowledge or improved health. Universities and public research institutes - no longer tailoring research agendas to public needs - are catering to the dictates of private companies who reward them with research funds. The result: an ever-expanding arsenal of expensive, clinically unproven, and potentially dangerous new drugs and technologies.
The current climate of deregulation favors the unhindered continuation of genetic research, giving scientists carte blanche to proceed with minimal public discussion of effective oversight, regardless of the risks to human health, the costs to society, or the bioethical dilemmas such research presents. The absence of laws prohibiting the cloning of animals and human embryos clearly indicates our government's misplaced loyalty to for-profit biotechnology interests.
The Medical Research Modernization Committee opposes human and non-human genetic-cloning, and xenotransplantation for the reasons cited above. Federal funds should not be used to fund any stage of the development of these technologies.
END OF RELEASE
Index of articles on cloning, transplants and genetic engineering
Campaign for Responsible Transplants 57
Dr. Irwin Bross on Cloning
DLRM Press Release
PRESS RELEASE January 1997
Contact: Joy Palmer 0181-340-2482 or 0181-340-9813
Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine
104b Weston Park, London N8 9PP UK
(Continued on page 26)
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