To the editor:

The poor reasoning in your editorial “Turning back the clock” (Nat. Biotechnol. 20, 411, 2002) fails to advance the cause for nuclear transplantation research. In your second paragraph, you correctly observe that to many Americans “nuclear transplantation research is bad per se because it requires the creation and destruction of embryos.” Then you draw from this premise the illogical conclusion that “scientists cannot be trusted to work with cloned human embryos.” To those who hold that human embryos are morally equivalent to adult human beings, the issue is not trust; the issue is murder. No degree of potential medical progress can justify murder. Is it possible that you do not understand the pro-life stance? I doubt it, but this bit of caricature puts your entire argument in a bad light. When you have a good case, there is no need to misrepresent the opposing view.

See Reply to "ES research and immorality".