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SHOULD WE USE HUMAN CLONING
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It has been announced that a little known American physicist wishes to set up a service to create cloned human beings for US infertility clinics. This raises several serious questions, relating not only to cloning itself but to the control of research, in view of the widespread public opposition to human cloning on both sides of the Atlantic.
In May 1997 the Church of Scotland General Assembly declared its opposition to cloning human beings and the routine cloning of animals for production, while supporting the more limited application at the Roslin Institute and PPL Therapeutics to genetically modifed cloned sheep producing medically useful proteins in their milk. It also left open for the time being the question of medical applications which might one day arise out of the Roslin technique, but which fell short of cloning a full human being.
The Church's concerns include the fundamental issue of the violation of the dignity and uniqueness of each individual human which the deliberate act of cloning represents (as opposed to the unpredictable natural occurrence of twins), and the instrumental attitude which it demonstrates towards human beings. It opens up the threat of a number of potential abuses of people. There are also serious medical doubts over the safety of the procedure. Roslin's cloning research in sheep has shown some perinatal problems and unusually large offspring. While for the moment these questions remain unsolved, to proceed to do similar work in humans would be highly irresponsible, and might endanger the lives of otherwise healthy individuals. There is a deep concern that researchers must not to take advantage of the profound desire of infertile couples to have a child to encourage unsafe or unethical procedures. In addition, no one knows what psychological and relationship problems might result for a child born who is genetically identical either to one of its own parents, a generation older, or to an exisiting close relative. It would be irresponsible to take such a risk. It also raises hopes and pressures on women and men which may never be fulfilled, since it is by no means a foregone conclusion that cloning techniques would work successfully in humans, were someone unwise enough to attempt it.
Underlying these issues is also a deep concern that research into areas with far reaching societal implications should be held accountable to society. The ambition of a single scientist, or a preparedness to pay on the part of a privileged few should not be allowed to become the primary criteria for deciding whether an ethically controversial procedure is allowed by a civilised society. In the UK the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act of 1990 in effect banned human cloning. It remains of great concern that in the USA only federally funded work is outlawed, enabling private clinics or research foundations to act at will, regardless of the responsibility which all scientists must hold towards the society which enables them to do their work. This leads to all the greater need for an agreed international ban on the cloning of human beings.
For an extensive discussion of other cloning issues see our set of pages on Cloning Issues
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This page has been produced by the Society Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland. For more about our work on other issues, see our Other SRT Project pages, our SRT Publications List, or our On-line SRT Newsletter.
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Dr.Donald M.Bruce,This page has been produced by the Society Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland. For more about our work on other issues, see our Other SRT Project pages, or our SRT Publications List.
We'd also welcome any comments you may have. We don't claim to have said the last word!
If you want to send us a comment or obtain further information or receive our latest Newsletter,
email us at :
mailto:srtp@srtp.org.uk
or send an ordinary letter or fax to :
Dr.Donald M.Bruce,Return to Contents
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