CLONING INFORMATION

Cloning Fact
June 25, 2002

'Brain Drain' From A Ban On Cloning?

Cloning proponents say that a comprehensive ban on cloning human embryos will lead to a "brain drain" of America' s best scientists, forcing them to go overseas to pursue such work.

Evidence both here and abroad shows otherwise.

In 1998, Michigan became the first state in the nation to ban all use of cloning to create human embryos. For many years before this, Michigan also had laws making it a felony to conduct harmful experiments on human embryos.

Yet this has not stopped Michigan from becoming one of the fastest growing states in the nation in biotechnology progress.

Similarly, Germany has long-banned harmful research on embryos and has Europe' s strongest law against cloning human embryos. Yet among the European nations, Germany is considered second only to Great Britain in biotechnology progress; some observers believe that within the next decade, Germany may even outstrip the UK to become Europe' s leader in the field.

As these examples show, a ban on human cloning does not halt progress in biotech research.

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