h day of development depending upon the circumstances, but definitely not after the eighteenth day, when neural tube closure begins to develop. The neural tube is the beginning of the nervous system, including the brain, in adult humans (Marshall 1024). Thus the scientific community seems to be giving more moral consideration to an embryo then a majority of society gives to a more developed fetus during abortion The experiments that the panel recommended be banned include impregnating human embryos in other animal species, impregnating cloned embryos into humans, the use of embryos for sex selection, or the transfer of one nucleus from one embryo to another. These are but a few of the procedures that the panel felt were inappropriate for federal funding (Marshall 1024). However, the above limitations only apply to federally funded experiments. Currently there are no laws directly prohibiting any of the above procedures in private research settings. It should also be stated that all of the above procedures have or can be carried out with our current technology. Although the NIH does not have the ability to stop privately funded cloning clinics like the one Richard Seed plans to build, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does. "The [FDA] already has the power to quash attempts to clone people. Eccentric scientists… can announce plans to open human-cloning clinics. But without FDA approval, they'll be committing a crime. And they won't get FDA approval" (Carey 1). Whenever a new idea is introduced into society, it is usually met with criticism and fear by some and with joy and hope by others. Just like criticism and fear arrived with the delivery of Louise Brown, the first In Vitro fertilization baby born in 1978 (Tudge 34), the same will hold true for cloning. However, there is hope. Not only is In Vitro fertilization accepted now, but it is used daily by hundreds of couples trying to conceive when it was impossible to even imagi...
