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Illegal Beings: Human Clones
Is Cloning Unnatural?
libfemme ( 11/04/2003, 08:40:37 )The New Scientist has a short list of answer to frequently asked questions about cloning that might be of interest to the neophyte. (If you don't know what a neophyte is, then you are one.)Is cloning "unnatural"?Not at all - some organisms in nature only reproduce using cloning - not only bacteria and yeasts, but also larger organisms like some snails and shrimp. Because in nature sexual reproduction is the only way to improve the genetic stock of a species, most asexual species tend to die off, but at least one - a shrimp called Artemia perthenogenetica - has survived for at least 30 million years. Many more species, including the aphid, reproduce by cloning most of the time, only reproducing sexually every few generations. Perhaps one day humankind may follow their lead.Is an identical twin essentially the same as a clone?Only if the clone is born at the same time from the same womb as its clone, as we now know that what a fetus is exposed to in the womb, in the way of nutrition or alcohol or drugs or perhaps even stress hormones, can influence its physical and mental development.Could some lunatic clone Hitler if human cloning were perfected?Just possibly - but they wouldn't get what they wanted. First, they would need some living cells from his body - unless it was frozen or otherwise preserved soon after death they would probably be unusable. More importantly, because of differences in the environment of the womb and upbringing clone Hitlers would not act, think or even necessarily look like the original.Could clones be "farmed" to provide spare body parts for their "parent" clone without problems of tissue rejection?Possibly, although we don't know enough yet to be confident that rejection would be eliminated entirely. You would also have to wait a number of years until the clone's organs were mature enough to transplant, and of course your actions would be highly illegal unless your clone was willing to act as a donor as a clone would be just as human as you or I. Even leaving aside the ethical concerns, with the progress that is being made in understanding and coping with tissue rejection, you would be more likely to have a pig's heart in your future than a clone's.Would a clone have a soul?Though we are not theologians if you grant souls to identical twins and to the various kinds of "test tube babies" already being born then it follows that a clone would have one too. Could people be cloned without conscious brains (so their body parts could be harvested with fewer moral qualms)?No. For starters, whatever consciousness is, it doesn't reside in any one brain structure or set of genes that could be easily removed from the clone before or during its development. Moreover, attempting to surgically or genetically erase someone's "consciousness" is itself morally dubious. It would also be hard to know if your "technique" worked. A person can look and behave like a mindless vegetable but have a very active mind - witness the paralysed French writer, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who dictated a 130 page novel by moving an eyelid.Could vital organs be grown using cloning without the rest of a body?Possibly - but nobody is even close to knowing how. Contrary to scientists' expectations, the birth of Dolly shows it is possible to reprogram the cell of an adult (or at least its genome) so that it begins development all over again. This newly discovered flexibility means it may one day be possible to reprogram skin or blood cells so that they grow into "spare part" tissues and organs, rather than whole organisms. But the technical obstacles will be huge. Rest of New Scientist article can be found at the link.
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