Human cloning - part two - why investors don't like cloningHuman cloning means designer people with known pedigree. This is the ultimate pedigree child. Cloning of human embryos has already been achieved - see below. Successful cloning of adults has been announced but not yet proven. It is only a matter of time, months or a very few years before human cloning is a reality for anyone with enough cash, willing to take the risks of a hideously malformed or emotionally damaged child.
Human cloning of a baby could have happened more than once last year - how would you know? Human cloning headlines are usually at least two years behind what's really going on - see below. What you really need to be asking is what scientists will be saying in press conferences in 2010 about their human cloning research, talking about work that they actually did in 2005.
What follows was written in 2003 and is important background on human cloning research
One thing is beyond any doubt: despite huge risks, and widespread public condemnation, by January 2001, many different scientists across the world were already locked in a race to clone the first human, as a baby for TV cameras.
Huge amounts of money are at stake in human cloning research. Teams have announced their aim, many people have come forward with offers of eggs, their own adult cells and money - and the US still has no laws to prevent human cloning from happening, nor do most other countries of the world.
The headlines above first came nearer reality on 23 Feb 1997 when world media reported the existence of Dolly the sheep: cloned from an adult. I had predicted the Dolly headline in 1993, in my book The Genetic Revolution. A few days later, the Edinburgh scientists admitted that frozen cells had been used to make Dolly, having seemed to deny it when the story first broke. That meant that animals (and in theory people) could be cloned after death. US scientists also revealed that they had cloned monkeys (using cells from an embryo). The British scientist responsible for Dolly admitted to a Parliamentary committee (6 March 1997) that human cloning could be possible in two to three years (after vigorous denials by many embryologists). I had been saying the same from the moment the story broke.
Made in America, born elsewhere
President Clinton launched an immediate 90 day report into the implications for human cloning as soon as the news of Dolly became public. Norway did the same while the EC urgently considered a response. The news on human cloning experiments exposed the fact that most nations of the world had little or no legislation covering genetic engineering. This has to change.
Clinton announced in May 1997 that human cloning should be banned. He was warmly applauded. However, what he went on to say was that the proposed ban was only for 5 years, and that nuclear transfer experiments (basic human cloning technique) could continue, though not with government money. In other words "Clones may be made, but not born for the next five years". However, Clinton could not even deliver - his own partial ban was thrown out by Congress. Meanwhile UK Parliament in January 2001 made experimental creation of human clones legal, so long as the embryos were made for medical research and destroyed before implantation.
Richard Seed said over two years ago that he was "a few weeks" from his human cloning experiments. He has attracted money and people. I've met him and debated with him on TV. He has been followed by Clonaid, a new human cloning organisation with cash and 300 couples ready to start. Dr Seed declared that he cannot be stopped from human cloning under current US law, and if human cloning laws are changed he will move the work to Mexico. He has announced a human cloning lab for Japan - purchase of land and $15 million backing. Every week there is another mammal cloning headline. Dolly the sheep gave birth to a healthy lamb, Bonny. In July 1998 came rumours of a cloned mouse, Mickey, created by Dr Ryuzo Yanagimachi, University of Hawaii. In November 1998, we heard that Japanese scientists had already cloned cows from milk - cells in the milk. If you want to see the staggering pace of human cloning announcements - check out our human cloning news summary.
As I say, remember that what you hear today is not what is going on now, its already old history. And some scientists in the field are determined to keep it that way. Hence you only knew about Dolly's creation when she was already 7 months old - more on this below. Another example of secrecy was the extraordinary announcement by Advanced Cell Technology, Massachusetts on 12 November 1998 that three years previously they managed to take the nucleus from a human cell from Dr Jose Cibelli and insert it into a cows egg. The human genes activated and the egg began to divide. They destroyed it at the 32 cell stage, well on the way to becoming a Dr Cibelli's clone. This research was more spectacular than Dolly, yet carried out years earlier with a total news blackout. More recently in March 2001 Australian scientists said they had been carrying on similar secret human cloning experiments using human cells and pig eggs for over two years. What I want to know is this: what are they doing today that they won't be talking about till 2002 or 2003 or perhaps 2004?
The public has a right to know
It has been good to see truth about cloning begin to prevail, after deliberate under-playing of the news by so-called "experts" in a damage limitation exercise to prevent destruction of their research grants by public demand. They have been scared by public reaction. They think the public has no real understanding and so these matters should be kept from the public eye, discussed only by scientists and ethical committees. But these committees are dominated by the industry.
What will be the next human cloning headline? You can be sure that we will see a continuous stream of new revelations now that has become politically acceptable for scientists to come out of the woodwork and talk about these things.
"I want to clone my dad and have him as a baby"
Just before the announcement of Dolly the sheep, someone e-mailed me asking if she could clone her dead father. The answer of course is yes, so long as living cells have been kept in culture, taken from before death, or have been frozen in an appropriate manner. She is also willing to be cloned herself. These are important issues, not science fiction. I had another e-mail from a man offering to volunteer to be cloned. Scott writes "Do you need any volunteers for human cloning experiments?"
Let me make it absolutely clear that I am opposed to human cloning on ethical grounds. It is open to gross abuse. It undermines the uniqueness of the individual and raises profound religious and ethical questions.
Three reasons not to clone: (Press here for more)
1. Health risks from mutation of genes - an abnomal baby would be a nightmare come true. Huge risks of mutations - of a monster. Just look at what has happened in animal experiments. You can't always spot the mutations or developmental abnormalities by gene testing, nor by ultrasound scans, until after birth.
2. Emotional risks - child grows up knowing her mother is her sister, her grandmother is her mother. Every time her mother looks at her she is seeing herself growing up. Unbearable emotional pressures on a teenager trying to establish his or her identity. What happens to a marriage when the "father" sees his wife's clone grow up into the exact replica (by appearance) of the beautiful 18 year old he fell in love with 35 years ago? A sexual relationship would of course be with his wife's twin, no incest involved technically.
3. Risk of abuse of the technology - see below.
Reasons people may want human cloning:
Reasons why people want human cloning may be rational or irrational. That is not the point. The fact is that a recent US survey conducted by CNN found that 6% of US citizens think human cloning could be quite a good idea. Judging by people who leave comments on this website, the reasons may vary widely. Here are a few:
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Recover someone who was loved - a twin, a reminder.
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Infertility - rather than use donated sperm and eggs, why not use a cell of your own to give birth to "yourself", your own twin?
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Eugenics - an attempt to improve the human race.
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Megalomania - a desire to reproduce one's own qualities.
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Spare parts - using a cell from your own body to duplicate yourself. Take tissue e.g. bone marrow, then offer baby for adoption.
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Assisting medical research
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Just curiosity
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