Human Cloning This Report Aims to Address

Human Cloning

This report aims to address various issues and concerns regarding human cloning. "On Sunday morning, 23 February 1997, the world awoke to a technological advance that shook the foundations of biology and philosophy. On that day, we were introduced to Dolly, a 6-month-old lamb that had been cloned directly from a single cell taken from the breast tissue of an adult donor." (Brannigan, 10) But that was a sheep and as of today, there have been no confirmed occurrences of any human beings having been cloned. However, the Dolly phenomenon has brought human cloning as an event into the realm of possibility. Although it is rarely thought about by the average person on the street, man as a species is still in a constant battle to survive and evolve within the confines of nature. Through science and technology, man is on and will continue to be on a constant search for new and viable approaches to eliminate disease, disability and of course, death. Cloning is one such technology even though there are still many questions pertaining to the more controversial aspects of human cloning. "For instance, will cloning lead to objectification and exploitation of the human clone? What are likely consequences of human cloning upon siblings and upon society? The media has played a conspicuous role in fueling the debate and shaping the contours of the discussion. A deeper issue lies in the public's apparent fascination with cloning." (Brannigan, 184) This report will therefore attempt to present an understanding of what cloning really is and give insights into some of the potential highs and lows for current and future human beings.

Where are we today?

Human cloning calls into question the very nature and extent of moral rights. Aldous Huxley saw cloning as way to save the human race as far back as 1932 in his novel called 'Brave New World.' "One egg, one embryo, one adult -- normality. But a bokanovskified egg will bud, will proliferate, will divide. From eight to ninety six buds, and every bud will grow into a perfectly formed embryo, and every embryo into a full-sized adult. Making ninety six human beings grow where only one grew before." (Huxley, 3) In 'Brave New World', cloning represented the general mood of the citizens to wipe out a bitter past and seek a more utopian society after the devastating effects of World War I. There is no doubt that cloning still can be seen as a possible solution for man and his attempt to create a world that is different from the present.

Consider that many social, political and religious debates are being argued right now that concern the technology and how human cloning will affect our future. It is ironic that there are so many disparities among man's cultural and ethnic lines when it comes to the acceptance of technology. In some circles for instance, a breakthrough can be instantly labeled as a serious threat to the overall well being of man and in another setting that same technology can be seen as a saving grace.

Like beauty, technology and scientific advancement such as the ability to clone humans is held in the eye of the beholder. Put another way, a nuclear arsenal could be seen as a beneficial necessity while in the hands of the United States but as the media makes us all very well aware, that same technology would be a potential world disaster in the hands of some other nation such as Libya or North Korea. Cloning may not have the same destructive potential as nuclear fallout, but there is just as much optimism and controversy associated with the topic.

Define Cloning

Many individuals not in the scientific arena think that cloning is simply a process like 'in vitro fertilization' of human eggs. "And this, said the Director, is the fertilizing room." (Huxley, 3) Cloning is a complex process and can actually be thought of as the making, or yes, creation of an identical copy of some specific molecule, cell, tissue or an entire organism. Other definitions consider cloning as a form of asexual reproduction that would be very similar to how all pure cell cultures of bacteria reproduce.

The process entails hereditary of material created in a mutation process where all members of a clone of a single cell are genetically identical. "Cloning has been defined by a number of North American reference books, works of fiction, the entertainment industry, and the scientific literature. Webster's digital dictionary explains that the word, "clone," is from the Greek kion, which means "twig." The term "clone" was probably first used in the botanical field to describe the process of budding. Several current uses of the term are also given, one of which is generally accepted, namely, that cloning involves creating a genetically identical individual from a single, normal, body cell." (Brannigan, 153)

Implications

As noted, since Dolly, scientists have gone ahead and cloned other mammals such as mice, monkeys and cows. Yet, with each new success there is an associated and inherent urgency to answer ethical questions surrounding prospects of human cloning.

Cloning is seen in many circles as a continued source for the demise of the 'mother and father' familial structure we humans see as a basic foundation of human society. There are a number of ethicists, religious leaders, and others who call for the complete banning of any and all human cloning experiments or any associated technological research. The fear or potential has even made its way into the United States government which has outlawed many required aspects of the human cloning process.

Of course, this negativity may all just be based on the implications created by the media and science fiction movies. These associations may have inadvertently assigned many unclear identities to the prospect of human cloning or simply created the bad reputation that cloning now holds. "When cloning becomes an established procedure, as a result of the cooperative endeavors of pure science, applied science, and engineering, can anyone deny that it too will stretch the mind and enlarge the horizons of man? Nor do we need to wait for the fulfillment of what today is still largely a science-fiction dream for an example of how science stretches the mind. Think of Newton, of Darwin, of Einstein, of Watson and Crick." (Schilpp, 14)

Cloning and the Media

There is a definite interest around the world about human and animal cloning. Thus, there is a plethora of cloning statistics available according to Dr. Patrick Dixon who is the editor of the Human Cloning web sight. Movies and books on the subject abound and consider that there were more than five and a half million visits to web sites that house cloning content and more than thirteen thousand news stories regarding either human or animal cloning in just the past year. With all of this information available, how close is the scientific community to actually cloning humans?

Stories released a few years ago suggested that human cloning had already begun. The story by top reporters at CNN and 20/20 a few years ago told an amazing tale about a company called Clonaid. "Clonaid claims birth of first human clone (Eve) by caesarian section on 26th December 2002 and a second child in Europe (Netherlands) to a lesbian couple in early January, a third in late January to a Japanese couple who cloned their dead son, plus another to a couple from Saudi Arabia and a further child - country of origin not declared. But no evidence of any kind had been offered by mid February to substantiate their claims." (Dixon, Dr., Patrick, Human Cloning Headlines) Of course, no official confirmation was ever provided about Clonaid's claims and we as a nation are still waiting to see if this was nothing more than some elaborate hoax.

The Clonaid story certainly brings about questions for potential uses of cloning. But it also creates an entirely new form of potential racism and prejudice for our future. Who decides who can clone a person and on what would we as a species base those criteria? Basically, should a government establish some new future protocol or set of laws that would allow the process to systematically work for some and eliminate others or should cloning be allowed to move along without regulation and intervention?

Should we allow sick people to clone even when there is no cure for what ails them or should we attempt to create Harvard smart and Olympic ready children? "Licenses could be limited to healthy women between the ages of 20 and 40. In addition, licenses could be denied to women who are carriers of recessive genes that could be passed on to disadvantaged offspring. Similar rules would of course apply to men where appropriate. Suppose a wife is licensed but her husband isn't. This problem could be dealt with by using artificial insemination with government-approved sperm." (Pollock, 73)

Real Uses

As demonstrated by the example of Dolly the sheep, man currently can and regularly does a great many cloning experiments which clearly alter other living things being and lives. For example, consider the alteration of the physical make up through cloning of plant life such as corn and legumes. These scientific and technological breakthroughs have become a source for science to possibly create super crops that could one day feed a majority of the world's currently starving population. But, these plant changes also could eliminate the need for pesticides because these altered plants will be able to fight off insects and other plant diseases and possibly even provide inoculations for known human problems such as malaria, typhoid or even HIV.

Sure altered plant inoculations are simply speculation as of today, but the idea of plants being cloned and altered so that they can provide their own natural defenses against insects and disease is already a twenty-first century reality. Scientists seem to have proven that they will in fact have the abilities of gods in the future through their ability to create or alter at will. The ability to currently clone sheep and other mammals like monkeys entails that eventually they will more than likely be able to duplicate any and all living mammals they choose, including Homo-sapiens.

Of course, on the down side of all of the cloning successes and hype is the fact that Dolly the sheep was put down because of a progressive lung disease. This brings the reality of the scientific and technological progress back to earth for the moment. These same scientists who cloned Dolly have a way to go because they have not yet perfected the cloning process. In a sense, working out the bugs, so to speak, on other species may provide some relief for the masses that the practice of cloning humans is not yet underway.

Stem Cell Research

One line of reasoning in regard to human cloning is to take a different approach so scientists would not attempt to reproduce an entire human or organism. Instead, they would only reproduce or clone specific parts of a body and use these parts to repair, regenerate or inoculate the body in need within the confines of a laboratory. Mind you, these attempts at 'parts cloning' are already underway but as a science it may not be fully supported. "I appreciate the potentially great gains in scientific knowledge and medical treatment available from embryo research, especially with cloned embryos. At the same time, I have serious reservations about creating human embryos for the sole purpose of experimentation. There is something deeply repugnant and fundamentally transgressive about such a utilitarian treatment of prospective human life. This total, shameless exploitation is worse, in my opinion, than the "mere" destruction of nascent life. But I see added objections, as a matter of principle, to creating and using cloned early embryos for research purposes, beyond the objections that I might raise to doing so with embryos produced sexually." (Brannigan, 63)

Technologies such as stem cell research and other associated technologies are making headlines. "Today, five years after the shy University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist published his succinct but earthshaking paper showing that stem cells -- ephemeral, blank slate cells that occur at the earliest stages of human development -- could be isolated, cultured and grown in apparently limitless quantities, enthusiasm is tempered. The public cheerleading of Varmus and others, without a doubt, helped make stem cells a household word and set a high (and unrealistic) expectation that therapies for a host of debilitating cell-based diseases were just around the corner." (Five Years Later, Stem Cells Still Tantalize)

It is important to note that since 1996 the United States government under George W. Bush reversed many if not all federal funding for research that could endanger or destroy human embryos. These same programs were heavily funded and supported by the Clinton administration. "Thus, Stabenow - who supports the extraction of stem cells from aborted embryos, a new direction in research for possible cures for debilitating diseases - was pleased President Bush didn't close the door for research opportunities. But she said last week's decision limits research." (Hughes)

This type of human cloning has the potential to completely change medicine and could ultimately transform the entire spectrum of human life and health. As the baby boomers prepare to retire and our existing healthcare system is in financial shambles, man will be forced to look for or create new cures to old ailments. Thus, the financial prospects of stem cell research and other 'parts only' cloning processes could be enormous. When embryonic stem cells were isolated in 1998, many original technologies became apparent as the potential of the technology found its way into the business spectrums of executives, investors, venture capitalists and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology communities. Therefore, the potential for human cloning is a make or break turning point in human history.

Controversy

So, if the potential of human cloning and other breakthrough technologies like stem cell research is so good, why is there so much associated controversy? Like Mustapha Mond was the symbol of the brave new world and the antagonist of Huxley's novel, there always seems to be one or more antagonists for any good story. Religion is that antagonist in this case of human cloning. To the religious oligarchy, human cloning can be compared to Mond and the representation of the sophisticated, scientific society of the new world order in the "Brave New World." Like Darwin, human cloning will represent a serious hole in the ability of the various world churches to explain life and death so they have taken a position against cloning. "Religious positions on human cloning are pluralistic in their premises, modes of argument, and conclusions. Nevertheless, several major themes are prominent in Jewish, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Islamic positions, including responsible human dominion over nature, human dignity and destiny, procreation, and family life." (Brannigan, 184)

The consensus in many of these religious groups is that man should not be cloning other human beings because of the very foundations inherent in the divine theory of the soul. This deontological view of life sees cloning as a violation of God's will because of the divine inculcation of a soul. This never considers concerns like the potential and irreversible errors that may occur in existing or future cloning processes that could be "likely to produce offspring with mental and physical handicaps." (Pollock, 73)