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Human Cloning: Research
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The term cloning refers to the asexual production of a human or other animal whose genetic material is nearly identical to that of an existing life, such as an embryo, fetus, or adult. Most scientists distinguish between two types of cloning, reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning. In reproductive cloning, a cloned embryo is created and implanted with the intent of bringing the clone to term and birthing a genetically identical individual. In therapeutic cloning, on the other hand, the goal is not to produce a cloned human or animal, but rather to create cloned embryos for research purposes, such as harvesting embryonic stem cells. After creating the embryo, embryonic stem cells are extracted from the inner cell mass, thereby destroying the cloned embryo. What is the advantage of using cloned human embryos as a source for stem cells?
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There is a clear trend in the international context toward a prohibition on all use of human cloning. The Canadian Parliament has just passed legislation comprehensively banning human cloning The Federal Government of Australia, which like that of Canada permits embryo research in some circumstances, has ... passed a comprehensive cloning ban. Germany passed a forward-looking, comprehensive cloning ban in 1990. Mexico has also passed such a ban, and France is in the process of doing so with government support. Similarly, a proposal to ban cloning to bring about the birth of a child and research cloning has been approved by Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, but it needs approval from Brazil's Senate before becoming a law.
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[R]esearch into cloning of human embryos has been restricted in the United States and in some other countries. Pro-life groups which oppose free access to abortion have had considerable political power. They were able to have all human embryo research banned by the Regan and Bush Presidencies during most of the 1980's and into the early 1990's. During the first few days of President Clinton's presidency, the ban on public funding of human embryo and fetal research was lifted.
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Nearly a year ago, in mid-December, a team of South Korean researchers claimed, without producing scientific evidence, to have created a human embryo by cloning, using a donor cell from a 30-year-old woman. In compliance with a national ban on research with embryos that are more fully developed, the Korean researchers said they had halted their experiment after the embryo divided twice, into a total of four cells. Apart from implications for human reproduction, the cloning of Dolly represented a breakthrough that will play a key role in revolutionizing medicine. The ability to make an adult cell perform like an embryonic cell is a boon, for instance, for stem cell research. Biologists are working to get stem cells from adult human bodies to de-specialize so that they can produce tissues useful in healing various parts of the body.
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Halting the human cloning project is a moral duty which must ... be translated into cultural, social, and legislative terms. The progress of scientific research is not the same as the rise of scientistic despotism, which today seems to be replacing the old ideologies. In a democratic, pluralistic system, the first guarantee of each individual's freedom is established by unconditionally respecting human dignity at every phase of life, regardless of the intellectual or physical abilities one possesses or lacks. In human cloning the necessary condition for any society begins to collapse: that of treating man always and everywhere as an end, as a value, and never as a mere means or simple object.
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While the name Doug Melton is not standard fare around most dinner tables, that will likely change in the near future, as this Harvard researcher has received the green light to pursue human cloning. After spending several years reviewing his funding to ensure that none of the monies allocated for this project were coming from federal funds, ethical review committees approved the measure and have given him permission to clone a human being. As Thomas Berg noted: “On April 13, word came that Harvard University had cleared stem-cell researcher Doug Melton to pursue human cloning. Melton is a Harvard researcher with his own 4,000 sq. ft. basement laboratory, the location of which is kept secret” (2006). Berg continued: “His proposal to clone human beings was approved last month by three ethical review committees and two institutional review boards that oversee human research” (2006).
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