Farming Humans for Fun and Profit.(biotechnology)

"Farming" fetuses for body parts... Buying and selling human embryos... Patenting human beings... Are these chapter headings for a science-fiction pot-boiler? No. Just a typical day at the office for members of the President's Council on Bioethics.

On January 16, the President's Council released a draft report that deserves attention from all Americans concerned about the use and abuse of science. Its title, "Biotechnology and Public Policy: Biotechnologies Affecting the Beginnings of Human Life," is far from exciting, but its subject matter will put no one to sleep.

Practices like those listed above, says the Council, are abuses, pure and simple, and should be banned to protect the dignity of human procreation.

One such practice, though it sounds like science fiction, is as timely as this month's headlines and shows the need to "prohibit the transfer of a human embryo (produced ex vivo) to a woman's uterus for any purpose other than to attempt to produce a live-born child."

The council calls attention to the reality of this threat, noting that "a number of animal experiments using assisted reproductive technologies have shown the value of initiating pregnancies purely for the purpose of research on embryonic and fetal development or for the purpose of securing tissues or organs for transplant."

An expansion to humans would be horrific. "A woman and her womb," says the report, "should not be regarded or used as a piece of laboratory equipment, as an `incubator' for growing research materials, or as a `field' for growing and harvesting body parts."

The council's unanimous voice in opposition to fetus farms is especially noteworthy, given that the majority of its members are "pro-choice" on abortion, and among the members there is a variety of opinions on ...