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Poll: Most Americans say cloning is wrong

7 percent would clone themselves

March 1, 1997
Web posted at: 1:59 p.m. EST (1859 GMT)

(CNN) -- Americans responded unfavorably to news this week that Scottish scientists had successfully cloned a sheep from a cell taken from ordinary tissue.


poll grfk

According to a CNN/Time poll released Saturday, most Americans think it is morally unacceptable to clone either animals or humans, and they think that new cloning techniques will create more problems than they solve.

Almost half of those polled said they would be willing to eat fruits and vegetables that had been cloned, but 56 percent said they would not eat meat from cloned animals.


clone poll

About two-thirds of those polled said the federal government should regulate the cloning of animals.

Opinion was far less divided on the prospect of cloning humans. Of those polled, 69 percent said they are scared by the prospect of cloning humans, and 89 percent said it would be morally unacceptable.

Three-quarters said that cloning human beings is against God's will, and 29 percent said they are so troubled by the ability to replicate life, that they would participate in a demonstration against cloning humans. Only 7 percent said they would clone themselves if they had the opportunity.


against god poll

The poll was based on interviews conducted Wednesday and Thursday with 1,005 adult Americans. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.

 
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