Psychologists warn on cloning
Jan 13, 2003
Scientists who cloned Dolly the sheep at Britain’s Roslin Institute, made it clear from the outset that they did not intend it for human beings.
By Charles Wendo and Agencies
Scientists who cloned Dolly the sheep at Britain’s Roslin Institute, made it clear from the outset that they did not intend it for human beings.
They were a team of veterinary experts who saw cloning as a way of multiplying precious livestock. But now the science they pioneered has been abused, with an American cult claiming to have cloned a baby girl.
“I clearly do find it objectionable,†Dr. Harry Griffin, spokesman for the Roslin Institute, told the BBC.
Cloning sets against the normal method of reproduction, in which a man’s sperm cell fertilises a woman’s egg to yield an embryo. This natural method ensures that the baby inherits half its chromosomes from the father and the other half from the mother.
But to clone a human being, scientists would have to empty the nucleus of an egg and replace it with the nucleus of a mature cell taken from the person they want to clone. They would then implant this into the surrogate mother to carry the pregnancy. In this case all the chromosomes come from one parent, and the baby is a genetic photocopy of that parent.
For instance if you flush out an egg from Maria, stuff it with the nucleus of Sanyu’s cell and make Naku carry the pregnancy, the baby will be a clone of Sanyu. The baby and Sanyu will be like identical twins, only that they are born a generation apart. Maria and Naku only provide a coach to carry the baby till delivery, but the baby inherits nothing from them.
Out of such technology Dolly, the world’s most photographed sheep, was born in February 1997. Since then, scientists have cloned cattle, goats, pigs dogs, cats, rabbits and mice.
Now a cult known as the Raelian Movement has stirred up the world by announcing that they had cloned a baby girl and that 20 other baby clones would be born soon. The BBC News Online Science Editor, Dr David Whitehouse, described it as “the watershed between the science fiction dreams and fears of yesteryearâ€.
Dr. Harry Griffin, one of the brains behind Dolly, warned that such a manoeuvre was not justifiable in human beings because of ethical problems. For instance cloning is associated with high rates of miscarriage, deaths of the new born and complications in later life. For every cloned animal born alive, at least 99 die during pregnancy or before the clone is implanted into the uterus, according to a report published by the team that cloned Dolly.
On this basis, moralists argue that what is the point in creating human embryos while knowing that 99% of them are going to die during the cloning process ?
Sounds like mass killing, moreover the few clones born alive are likely to die early or have abnormalities. In early age they might develop complications of elderly people because though a clone may be young in body, it is a genetic copy of an older individual. Psychologists warn that when a child grows up only to learn that it is an identical twin of its parent, it might suffer mentally.
As soon as the US cult made the cloning announcement, the Vatican said it was the result of “a brutal mentality devoid of any humane or ethical consideration.†French President Jacques Chirac called for a worldwide ban on cloning. US President George Bush appealed to legislators in his country to make a law against cloning.
Equally, the scientists who cloned Dolly and showed the world that it is possible to create a carbon copy of a grown-up, condemned the move to clone a human being. They only advocate for cloning animals that have special qualities for agricultural of pharmaceutical purposes.
For instance a high yielding cow. They also plan to clone animals that have been genetically engineered to produce milk that contains medicines like insulin. Milk from such a cow would then become a raw material for drugs.
Scientists who cloned Dolly the sheep at Britain’s Roslin Institute, made it clear from the outset that they did not intend it for human beings.
They were a team of veterinary experts who saw cloning as a way of multiplying precious livestock. But now the science they pioneered has been abused, with an American cult claiming to have cloned a baby girl.
“I clearly do find it objectionable,†Dr. Harry Griffin, spokesman for the Roslin Institute, told the BBC.
Cloning sets against the normal method of reproduction, in which a man’s sperm cell fertilises a woman’s egg to yield an embryo. This natural method ensures that the baby inherits half its chromosomes from the father and the other half from the mother.
But to clone a human being, scientists would have to empty the nucleus of an egg and replace it with the nucleus of a mature cell taken from the person they want to clone. They would then implant this into the surrogate mother to carry the pregnancy. In this case all the chromosomes come from one parent, and the baby is a genetic photocopy of that parent.
For instance if you flush out an egg from Maria, stuff it with the nucleus of Sanyu’s cell and make Naku carry the pregnancy, the baby will be a clone of Sanyu. The baby and Sanyu will be like identical twins, only that they are born a generation apart. Maria and Naku only provide a coach to carry the baby till delivery, but the baby inherits nothing from them.
Out of such technology Dolly, the world’s most photographed sheep, was born in February 1997. Since then, scientists have cloned cattle, goats, pigs dogs, cats, rabbits and mice.
Now a cult known as the Raelian Movement has stirred up the world by announcing that they had cloned a baby girl and that 20 other baby clones would be born soon. The BBC News Online Science Editor, Dr David Whitehouse, described it as “the watershed between the science fiction dreams and fears of yesteryearâ€.
Dr. Harry Griffin, one of the brains behind Dolly, warned that such a manoeuvre was not justifiable in human beings because of ethical problems. For instance cloning is associated with high rates of miscarriage, deaths of the new born and complications in later life. For every cloned animal born alive, at least 99 die during pregnancy or before the clone is implanted into the uterus, according to a report published by the team that cloned Dolly.
On this basis, moralists argue that what is the point in creating human embryos while knowing that 99% of them are going to die during the cloning process ?
Sounds like mass killing, moreover the few clones born alive are likely to die early or have abnormalities. In early age they might develop complications of elderly people because though a clone may be young in body, it is a genetic copy of an older individual. Psychologists warn that when a child grows up only to learn that it is an identical twin of its parent, it might suffer mentally.
As soon as the US cult made the cloning announcement, the Vatican said it was the result of “a brutal mentality devoid of any humane or ethical consideration.†French President Jacques Chirac called for a worldwide ban on cloning. US President George Bush appealed to legislators in his country to make a law against cloning.
Equally, the scientists who cloned Dolly and showed the world that it is possible to create a carbon copy of a grown-up, condemned the move to clone a human being. They only advocate for cloning animals that have special qualities for agricultural of pharmaceutical purposes.
For instance a high yielding cow. They also plan to clone animals that have been genetically engineered to produce milk that contains medicines like insulin. Milk from such a cow would then become a raw material for drugs.