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Human Cloning: Cells
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Human cloning is explosively controversial. Although it is currently stalled in the United States Senate, cloning opponents remain adamant that human somatic-cell nuclear-transfer (SCNT) cloning be outlawed. Even though this effort has not yet succeeded, it has apparently had a devastating impact on the ability of cloning companies to obtain investments. As Michael West told The Washington Monthly in 2002, "Raising money is difficult when Congress is trying to criminalize your business."
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Human cloning is supposed to be a way to produce a genetic twin of a human being without sexual reproduction. It is done by taking genetic material from a person’s body cell and injecting it into an egg, which is then stimulated to begin embryonic development. The cloned embryo is almost identical genetically.
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Among the nightmarish possibilities that have been suggested, Leon Kass of the American Enterprise Institute said in Ethics of Human Cloning that celebrities could market their DNA for clones just as they now market autographs. Theoretically, too, since it takes only one cell to start the process, someone, perhaps a celebrity, could be cloned without her consent.
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The cloning debate was reopened with a new twist late in 1998, when two scientific reports were published regarding the successful isolation of human stem cells. Stem cells are unique and essential cells found in animals that are capable of continually reproducing themselves and renewing tissue throughout an individual organism's life. ES cells are the most versatile of all stem cells because they are less differentiated, or committed, to a particular function than adult stem cells. These cells have offered hope of new cures to debilitating and even fatal illness. Recent studies in mice and other animals have shown that ES cells can reduce symptoms of Parkinson's disease in mouse models, and work in other animal models and disease areas seems promising.
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*There may be future situations in which human cloning could be considered beneficial and morally acceptable. It is possible, for example, to imagine circumstances in which cloning may be contemplated within the context of marriage as the only available means of reproduction for a couple who cannot participate in normal procreation. In other cases, potential parents may be carriers of defective genetic alleles, and they may wish to avoid the risk of giving birth to a child with a genetic disease. The use of somatic cell nuclear transfer might assist such parents in having a child who would be free of genetic disorder. Of course, many of the concerns about personal identity and dignity would still remain even in the context of family fidelity. As with other forms of assisted human reproduction, potential blessings of somatic cell nuclear transfer must be weighed against the risks.
President George W Bush supports a ban on human cloning, as proposed by a group of Republican lawmakers, the White House said. "The administration supports a ban on the cloning of human beings by somatic cell nuclear transfer," said a statement of administration policy. Somatic cell nuclear transfer is the technique used to create Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, in 1997.
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