Q Should cloning be allowed for research purposes?
I am a Korean physician. The article of March 30 mentions that Hong Kong scientists admire the achievements of their Korean counterparts.
As far as the human embryonic stem cell cropping and cloning is concerned, I feel ashamed of my country and our researchers from the College Veterinarian Medicine of Seoul. It is sad to see that human embryos are made available to veterinarians for 'research' purposes - therapeutic is a euphemism - and pathetic that some Hong Kong medical colleagues regard this as a model for Hong Kong medical research.
The issue deserves careful ethical consideration and open debate, rather than a lobbying-style campaign.
Asian countries, known as having a more pragmatic and utilitarian approach to human rights and values, are becoming the world hub for cloning research models and researchers.
I would like to invite my medical colleagues to stand firm by their foremost ethical belief, 'primum non cere' - first of all, do no harm - and halt this degradation of human dignity. Life is sacred and human embryos are human lives.
