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.
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.
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.
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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