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Human Cloning: Human Embryos
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Bush said he would firmly oppose all types of cloning research involving human embryos. One bill pending action in the Senate would prohibit research in cloning for reproductive purposes, but would permit research on cloned human embryos which are destroyed after stem cells have been extracted. The president said that version is unacceptable.
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The German National Ethics Council, the 25-member body created in 2001 by the Federal Government to offer advice on ethical issues in the life sciences, announced on Monday that it would continue to oppose the cloning of human embryos for research. The announcement, which came after more than a year of study, reinforces a vote taken by the German parliament in 2002 that outlaws cloning.
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Opposition to the cloning of human embryos is diverse. It includes groups and members of Congress who are strongly committed on both sides of the abortion issue. Many of these groups and lawmakers have strong records in support of ethical biomedical research.
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Ironically, the Government’s commitment never to allow reproductive cloning simply means it will be a criminal offence not to kill these human embryos. As one ethicist has commented: “These embryos will be created only for destruction – in fact it will be illegal to try to bring such an embryo to live birth. Government will define a class of human beings that it is illegal not to kill!”19 Can this ever be morally right?
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Recently... there have been reports of researchers successfully creating cloned human embryos in the laboratory. Such attempts have been for therapeutic purposes and not to create a human being. For example, this February, researchers in South Korea reported in Science Magazine 1 that they had cloned a human embryo and then extracted stem cells from it. The researchers needed to collect 242 eggs in order to clone 30 early-stage embryos. From those, they were able to harvest one colony of stem cells. Although the scientists had no intention of implanting any of the cloned embryos in a uterus to create a human being, their plan to clone embryos to create stem cell lines was successful, thereby advancing the technology of cloning.
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In November 2001, ACT (Advanced Cell Technologies), a Massachusetts biotech company, announced the first cloning of human embryos for therapeutic research. This breakthrough had limited success: three (3) of the eight (8) eggs actually divided and only one divided into six (6) cells before the cloning ended.
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Human Embryos