Human Clone

Reports Say One May Be On The Way -- Like It Or Not
By Laurie Barclay
Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
WebMD Medical News



Nov. 26, 2002 -- We may soon be able to drop the fiction aspect from the science fiction surrounding human cloning. A fertility specialist in Rome announced today he has cloned a healthy human embryo that will be born in January, according to published reports.


The controversial doctor, Severino Antinori, would not say where the birth would take place or disclose any other information. Last year, Antinori announced that his team had unlimited funding for cloning research and up to 700 couples willing to be cloned.


Although the issue of whether we can clone a human may now be put to rest, the issue still remains of whether we should clone a human.


Is it necessary, is it ethical, and what are the risks?


Immortality -- or Immorality?

"Adoption is always an option, but many couples want a child with their own genes, even if that means cloning," Panayotis Zavos, EdS, PhD, associate director of the Kentucky Center for Reproductive Medicine, told WebMD in a previous interview.

Still others make no bones about their own bid for immortality, wanting to re-create themselves in miniature.

"Having babies is fun, and having clones would be even more fun," Richard G. Seed, PhD, told WebMD. "Having a little Richard Seed in the house would be great!"

American politicians have introduced legislation to prohibit it, fearing that the FDA might be powerless to exercise its jurisdiction over this emotionally charged issue. Officials have even considered a bill imposing a minimum $1 million civil fine for any efforts at human cloning. President Bush has made it clear he would sign any bill outlawing cloning in the U.S.

"In the last 20 to 30 years, the Supreme Court established reproductive rights that the government can't interfere with," said Seed, a physicist with expertise in infertility treatment. "You would have to go through difficult contortions of logic to make abortion legal, but cloning illegal."

"We're not as revolutionary as the so-called ethicists call us," said Zavos, president of his own company, which markets infertility technology worldwide. "Like any novel pioneering development, people are afraid of it, but they're going to have to learn to live with it."

To Clone or Not to Clone?

As in the case of the atom bomb, say cloning critics, just because we have the technology doesn't mean we should use it. With human cloning, experts raise serious practical as well as ethical issues that call the technology itself into question.

"Cloning mammals has been thus far a dismal record of failures -- dead, dying, and deformed clones, and threats to the health and life of the females bearing cloned fetuses," Thomas H. Murray, PhD, president of the Hastings Center in Garrison, N.Y., told WebMD.

"Dolly the cloned sheep is grossly obese, and probably not normal," said Rudolf Jaenisch, MD. "Molly the cloned cow dropped dead in the field one day for unknown reasons."

Jaenisch, professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and a pioneer in animal models of gene transfer, is concerned that clones could have subtle genetic defects showing up later, with tragic consequences like brain damage.

"We can't assess that in a sheep that just eats grass all day," he said.

Possible risks to the mother include the relatively gargantuan size of the fetus. Because of the clone's excessive weight and a placenta seven times normal size, a cesarean section is always needed in cloned animals, Jaenisch explained.

If cloning works as rarely in humans as in animals, 95 to 99 of every 100 pregnancies would fail, causing physical and emotional trauma for the mother, he says.

Bouncing Baby Clone

"We're not sure that babies won't be born with defects, but to aim for perfection is our goal. We're just humble human beings wanting to assist couples in having a child," Zavos said.

Jaenisch and others contend that screening may be inaccurate or misleading: "It is totally irresponsible to undertake reproductive cloning. People who want to do this are misleading the public and should be stopped."

Even more compelling than the medical risks are the ethical concerns, Patricia A. Baird, MD, told WebMD in a previous interview.

"Human reproductive cloning is unethical and unsafe and should be prohibited," said Baird, professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

As polls indicate that 90% of society opposes human cloning, a democratic government cannot ethically support it, she testified before the California legislature.

Who would decide who gets cloned? In the absence of public funding, those who can afford it will be first in line.

"Cloning raises deep issues about the meaning of parenthood and the flourishing of children," Murray says. The presidential bioethics committee, of which Murray is a member, also cites "effects on the moral, religious, and cultural values of society."

Psychological damage to clones could include losing their sense of identity or uniqueness, worry about premature death or ill health, and loss of social and family supports and relationships. Would the DNA donor be the clone's twin, or parent?

Baird recommends that individual reproductive rights be weighed against societal values. Cloning affects not only the parent, but the child, the society, and future generations.

As mankind has not yet dealt successfully with hunger, poverty, pollution, or warfare, "we are unlikely to have the wisdom to direct our own evolution," she says.

personally the last paragraph kinda sums it all up

Yeah, I'll agree with that. The last paragraph really does say it all...

I would be less concerned with the morality of cloning than the morality of what obligations the clones' creators will have towards them. Whether shooting out of a woman's vagina or coming out of a test tube, it's still a human being, and it deserves a normal upbringing and a loving family.


Of course, if we're only cloning to give childless families their own chidlren, perhaps someone should point out to these people the millions of orphans and foster children living in this country.

i imagine it would have to be done at some point...and it may have a lot of advantages...but will it stop at just cloning babies for childless couples...what's to stop people from cloning themselves for organs, will that be okay? I don't think modern man is ready for such a step...needs are still to selfish.

Cloning and genetic engineering will make the human race into another man made object..
It will all end in tears

hopefully we'd have destroyed ourselves by that time...

Yep, I hope so, I would hate to see anyone the same as me, that would probably kill me

that presents an interesting scenario to a clone...would a clone have the "same" traits as who they were made from...or from the moment of birth would it be an environmental factor...depending on what they were taught versus what they know?

they would have the same physical characteristics but I think the rest would be up to environment. But it would still scare me to death, like looking in a dodgy mirror

but it'd be interesting...you could raise yourself as you've always wanted to be...and see what would have happened...

true, but I dont think I would have much patience with myself

I know all the crap I put my parents' through firsthand. Why in the world would I want to subject myself to that kind of abuse? That Dr. Reed fellow has obviously forgotten his own childhood.

What wasn't explained in that article was why the cloned embryos are so damn large. If they are genetically identical to the genetic donor, why are they so abnormally huge? That just doesn't sound right to me.

Another thing, if they want to be more certain of any mental problems caused by cloning, then why not clone an ape? Batteries of psychological tests could be performed upon both the clone and the original...

I really don't see the pressing need for this. It's bad enough everybody and their mother has a damned cellphone for no other reason than to have one. The last thing we need are large bunches of people with little Mini-mes on child harnesses... The world is producing way too many children naturally to add on throngs of them grown in a lab.

but isn't the curiousity factor of it even a little tempting...it's something new and unknown...sure science is messing with nature and that's never a good thing...i guess i just haven't had time to form and opinion on human cloning...but with all sciences it's fascinating to me...it'll add a whole new twist on the "mommy where do babies come from?"

shadowborn is correct in regards to the testing on apes part since they are the closest to us in genetic terms....and also as for explinations as to the abnomalities....

as for the actual cloning another reference point is monetary.... basically if you have the money and power who is to stop you

now i am all for the genetic reserch that is bound to happen due to this in regards to tissue and organ developments...we currently have the beginnings of being able to grow tissue and with further studies organs are possible but i am against the growing a full body just for parts...

im for cloning organs but against people... with people theres just too many things you can do with them.

But i'm also infavour of cloning livestock and things.. same animal same taste.. well kinda...

A clone is just a normal child that happens to look a lot like someone else...it is NOT the same person. Obviously moral issues extend to the media attention such a child would recieve and any health problems that cloning may cause such as shortened telomeres (the DNA's genetic clock that tells cells when to stop dividing). In short there is nothing morally wrong with cloning someone as long as the child is raised as any other and is in full health. The ethical problems arise when genes are altered thus making the child no longer a 'natural' birth such as changing it's sex etc as someone who doesn't believe in god this poses no ethical problem at all.

For the most part fear of new technology comes from fear of the unknown..we simply don't know till it happens how such a technology will alter society. Clones will have exactly the same rights as anyone else so get rid of those concepts of cloned armies. State owned babies would be unexceptible by anyones standards.

Thereputic cloning is a completely different matter, the cells of an adult are used to make stem cells and tissue to repair the adults body..this is seen by some as stealing the life of the created embryo..but this is ridiculouse considering most cloned tissues won't even have any brain..a cloned embryo used for the creation of stem cells has far less cognizant faculties than an ant so it's stupid to be so damn silly about thier use.

P.s humans stopped evolving naturally the moment we created a health service and stopped killing our deformed young...these are modern moral concepts that interfere with evolution but benefit us all...only the really worst genetic mistakes now die...people with terrible genetic disorders can pass on thier genes because they can where before they would have been incapable...survival of the fittest has ceased but this seems like a good thing...who knows...i hope so.

science messing with nature never a good thing? Jordyn go through your day and see just how many things use electricity, how many things are created by chemists and tell me how you would use this website?