X-Message-Number: 8994 From: "Halperin, Jim" <> Subject: Response to Essay in January 19 TIME Magazine Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 13:02:11 -0600 This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------ =_NextPart_000_01BD2023.76E0CC70 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In case any of you saw Charles Krauthammer's essay in TIME this week, here is a letter I sent to the Editor in response. I doubt they'll print it, but you never know. Dear Editor: I have enjoyed many of Charles Krauthammer's previous essays. But his last piece, Of Headless Mice... and Men, was an irresponsible knee-jerk to a serious issue, one that requires thoughtful analysis and investigation. While the notion of cloned headless human bodies may, on first take, seem macabre, creating such organisms is hardly immoral. A neck-down replication of a human body would have no capacity for consciousness and therefore, despite any appearances, is itself not human. In fact there is nothing morally differentiating such organisms from cloned hearts or livers. In the name of saving us from the so-called "ultimate vanity" of immortality, would Krauthammer really seek to deny such science to a friend or loved one who requires a lifesaving organ transplant? More to the point, there is no realistic way to stop what Krauthammer fears. No government can prevent all scientists worldwide from developing new technologies that might help others, regardless of any potential for abuse. Does anyone prefer that only Iraqi and Libyan scientists should be permitted to clone human organs? The bizarre notion of making this medically justified experimentation a "capital crime" is far more frightening and anti-human, from every perspective, than the science Krauthammer seeks to stop. Sincerely, James L. Halperin, Dallas, Texas Author of The First Immortal - a novel of the future. ------ =_NextPart_000_01BD2023.76E0CC70 Content-Type: application/ms-tnef Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 [ SKIPPING REMAINDER OF MESSAGE BECAUSE OF EVIL ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8994