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 Human Cloning - Should it be done?by R. Aditya Narayan Page 4 of 7 The initial argument of cloning depriving the human race of its capacity to adapt is a very rare possibility, as never can cloning be accepted as the conventional method of reproduction. Other arguments are based on extremely radical situations, very difficult of conception at this point of time. The only argument of the above that holds substantial value realistically is that regarding the production of cloned individuals for the sake of their organs and the extraction of stem cells from maturing embryos. An individual produced or in the process of production by cloning will have its own identity, and must be conferred with all the human and legal rights as other persons. There cannot be a differentiation on the basis of who is a clone and who is not.
Legislative Attitudes: Different governments have reacted differently to the issue of human cloning. The Federal Parliament of the Government of USA, in its last sitting week of the year, passed legislation to prohibit cloning whole human beings and to prohibit placing human cells into animal eggs or placing a combination of animal and human cells into a human uterus. The offences carry heavy penalties. However, the legislation does not prohibit the usage of transferring nuclear material from a somatic cell to a human egg, forming the embryo. This is called the Dolly process, which ironically, will be the standard procedure of human cloning, if ever we are to clone humans. Another problem in the legislation is the undefined term ‘whole human being’. There is no indication as to when a person can be categorised as a whole human being, at birth, at the foetal stage or at the zygote stage. This flaw could prove detrimental at the time of prosecution, should such a situation arise. Yet another flaw, one even more severe, is that the government supports therapeutic cloning, the intent of which was to produce tissues and organs. Whole organs develop only within a maturing foetus. So it would seem the government is supporting not only cloning human embryos but also their implantation in a woman and later abortion to obtain organs from the foetus. This is a reiteration of a point made above, and simply cannot be done without contravening the cannons of morality and human rights and ethics. Japan's parliament has enacted legislation that makes the cloning of humans a crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of $90,000. The law, which prohibits creating human embryos by inserting somatic cells into an unfertilised egg, is the first in Japan that penalises a specific kind of research. The bill forbids what it says is an act that "could have a serious impact on human dignity, the biological safety of the human body and maintenance of order in society." The law also bans mixing human and animal cells to create hybrid embryos and forbids implanting hybrid embryos into human or animal mothers. The British Labour Party, currently in government, was of the view that research in the field of cloned human embryos must be allowed. The government sought to amend the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, 1990, and sought to put forth its proposals to allow human cloning. The UK government last week reaffirmed its policy that human reproductive cloning is ethically unacceptable by retaining a ban on this type of procedure. A new expert advisory group has been set up, however, to assess the potential benefits of cloning techniques for therapeutic purposes. Copyright© 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 R. Aditya Narayan, sffworld.com. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the author. |
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