Cloning Contentions

In light of the recent claims by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) in Worcester, Mass. to have cloned the first human embryo, President Bush has called for a ban on cloning.  At a Rose Garden appearance, he told reporters, "The use of embryos to clone is wrong.  We should not, as a society, grow life to destroy it, and that's exactly what is taking place."

The Massachusetts company was successful in "tricking" a human egg to start development on its own, without the benefit of a sperm, and was also successful in creating a human embryo through Dolly-style techniques.  They claim no interest in producing the live birth of a fully developed human baby through these techniques, but wish to find ways to produce stem cells for treatments for people suffering with Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries.

Dr. Arthur Caplan, the director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia argues that since scientists have not been able to clone a (fully developed) dog or cat, let alone a human, that there is nothing ethically wrong with using these embryos for stem cell research.  "If cloned human embryos or those made by tricking an egg into developing cannot become people, then what is the ethical objection to creating them and using them for stem cell research?"

However, not only is ACT far from cloning a human baby, they are still far from producing embryos that will work for stem cell research.  Some scientists have pointed out that embryos are useful for research only when they develop into "blastocysts" of 100 to 150 cells.  Only three of ACT's 19 cloned embryos grew beyond a single cell, and none grew larger than a clump of six cells.

At the same time, while all the news has been focused on the company in Massachusetts, a California-based UFO cult claims to already be two steps ahead in the cloning process.  Clonaid CEO Brigitte Doisselier told New Scientist that they already had produced a number of human embryos and would make their next announcement upon the actual "birth of a baby."  At this point, they claim their embryos have grown up to eight cells - two more cells than the most developed ACT embryos.

In a statement, the Vatican argued against any scientific justifications for the research, saying that, "The beginning of human life cannot be fixed by convention at a certain stage of embryonic development; it takes place, in reality, already at the first instant of the embryo itself."  

There are many ethical arguments against even the attempt to clone humans. Aside from the information that current clones only develop up to an alleged 8 cells, there are other sources for stem cells than human embryos - including umbilical cords and fat cells.  Should stem cell therapies prove to be the cure-all that researchers seek, those therapies should not be developed at the expense of playing with human life.  The host of potential moral and ethical implications should give us great pause.

Presidential spokesman Ari Fletcher said Monday that President Bush, "hopes that as a result of this first crossing of the line – and the first step into a morally consequential realm of creating a life to take a life in the name of science – that the Senate will act on the House legislation so that this procedure can be banned."