CLONING: Alive and well and coming to a town near you!

So now there’s Cloning. It happened you know. This year, scientists in South Korea came out with the announcement that they’d successfully cloned a human embryo from the cells of a woman. It was kind of difficult to follow the procedure exactly, but I do know that you don’t need a father to have children anymore. The Koreans were fortunate, an American geneticist said, to have at their disposal over 250 eggs with which to experiment. (The typical cloning research lab here in the United States would be lucky to have 4 or 5 eggs.) Due to our Government’s current ban on the reproductive cloning of humans, it’s little wonder other countries such as South Korea are running far ahead of us. And it’s not about to slow down either. So who’s gonna get “fully cloned” first you might ask?

Well, if we follow tradition, we won’t let the Koreans get too far ahead of us, current laws notwithstanding. Scientists in the United States like to stay ahead of the fray, no matter what the area of interest, and I seriously doubt that research in cloning will be an exception. But the issue is a bit more complex than just making humans from the existing cells of one parent. Proponents of cloning reason that the uses for cloning are many, and the benefits are only now being fully realized. Many of the scientists who work in the field of genetics are simply following past researchers in their quest to find cures to our many current diseases. And who would stop them in this search? If stem cells are created and duplicated (cloned) in a laboratory for the express and sole purpose of assisting with this research, many people would be hard pressed to see a down side to this. However, the issue of cloning for human reproduction takes the matter down a more slippery slope.

Years ago, I saw a documentary about a group called the “Raelians” who, despite having a really odd looking leader “Rael”, seemed to be pretty convinced that cloning was going to be the next big thing. Now this was at a time when bio genetic research was nowhere close to where it’s at today. This was well before “Dolly” the sheep had been successfully cloned, much to the amazement of the world. The Raelians at this time actually seemed to represent the cutting edge of cloning for reproductive use.

Their website “Clonaid” explained that - for a substantial fee - they would keep your cells stored in a sort of “hibernation”, to be used later should you or a loved one experience disease, organ malfunction or even death. The possibilities seemed endless. Homosexual couples could now produce offspring taken from the cells of one or either of the parents. A child who was involved in an accidental death could be “replaced”, using its carefully stored cells, courtesy the Raelian research scientists. Even favorite pets could now live on and on, through the advancement of science and the wonders of “Clonaid”. I recall the fee being around $50,000 for basic storage, but I’m sure it’s gone up considerably, now with the latest advancements in science and technology underway.

All this gives us pause to think about the implications. Imagine today that the Koreans get a big head start on human reproductive cloning. What exactly would they do with this technology? Well, they could simply use it to further their medical advances and help make the world much healthier, through bio genetic research. Or, they could kick things into high gear and start cloning human beings in large numbers, a veritable “cloning factory” if you will, all based on one particular model–a scenario all too familiar to science fiction buffs, and to the many vocal opponents of human cloning today.

In either case, I don’t imagine that the United States would sit back and watch from the sidelines as reproductive cloning research continues in other countries uninterrupted. We would simply have to get involved, not so much because we want to, but because we don’t like the alternative: being left out. Like the former rivalry between the USSR and America in their race to put a man on the moon, I don’t believe we’d allow the development of human reproductive cloning to go on while we simply continue to debate the issue in Congress.

But we’ve already reached the point where it’s become inevitable. Cloning is here, and whether you like it or not, most Americans agree that it’s only a matter of time until we begin producing cloned human beings. Indeed, many believe that it’s already been done.

Which brings us to one very important point: when these newly cloned humans are developed, what do we do with them? Do they have basic human rights? Do we treat them as equals, deserving of all privileges and opportunities that our present society enjoys? Or do we simply use these clones to our medical, military, or economic advantage, without regard to their feelings, rights, citizenship, or even possession of a “soul”.

This opens up a great deal of discussion, doesn’t it? For instance, where do you stand on human cloning, or more importantly, clones themselves? Are they full blooded people, even though they’ve been developed using very non traditional methods? (In this case, unlike invitro fertilization, the cells of only one person is required; and the sperm and egg never come into contact with one another.) Indeed, are they “human”? Well, the answer obviously is, yes.

But now suppose that one of our modern day “mad scientists” decides to create a virtual army of cloned humans, using the exhumed cells of say, Joseph Stalin, Hitler, Napoleon, George W. Bush or the Dell Computer Guy. And not only clones themselves, but extra clones of those clones. And if not the fully developed human bodies, perhaps a gigantic warehouse full of separate, cloned body parts kept alive in large factories to be used as needed. Far fetched? We’ve been using the cloning process to create lungs, kidneys and other vital human organs for years. Geneticists have already cloned not only fully developed sheep, but also cats, mice, rats, cattle, and now this week, mules.

In fact, scientists have successfully grown actual human body parts such as a man’s ear, utilizing ordinary laboratory rats as the ‘host’ body. Why should the fact that they’ve managed to develop ‘host bodies’ complete with working organs, skin, muscle, bone, tissue, even brains, make such a difference? After all, the body parts certainly have no soul. No rights. No real equality. Why should the clone itself, created in much the same way, enjoy those same rights? Or so goes the argument.

Cloning certainly gives us much to think about. Putting our heads in the sand and pretending it doesn’t exist, or passing laws to outlaw its research will prove to be fruitless, as more and more countries support its development for their own particular reasons. In the end, we seem to be left with two choices: non reproductive cloning for use in medical research, which will undoubtedly continue to lead to many scientific and medical breakthroughs, or full human reproductive cloning, which can lead to any number of scenarios as described above. In either case, a decision will have to be made. Which side are you on?

*If you have any thoughts on cloning, I'd love to hear all about it. Send your constructive feedback to: mail@joeherbert.com.