CLONING

There is some misunderstanding about what constitutes a clone.
A human clone would be the genetic identical twin, a generation or more younger, of the donor (not the surrogate mother) who provided the nucleus. But because people are more than a product of their genes, a clone would have its own personality, character, intelligence, and talents exactly as identical twins do (who are natural clones stemming from the same egg). You cannot clone a person’s brain or mind, and chance factors, the environment, and a person’s experiences contribute to individual traits.
This means that even if you wanted to, you cannot duplicate your identical self. Even if you were to clone yourself several times, you would not be able to create the same person each time because every human life, no matter how conceived, is unique. A cloned Idi Amin would not necessarily grow up to be a mass murderer nor would a twin of Martin Luther become a humanitarian.
It is also impossible to copy a deceased family member or a past historical figure through cloning the cells from their corpses. The same applies to dead persons that have been frozen, because you need live DNA to make a clone.
The concept of cloning individuals has always stimulated lot of interest. In the film The boys from Brazil we were introduced to the possibility of clones of Hitler being raised throughout out the world by his followers! That was pure fiction but now science has given cloning the technical foundations to make this a reality. Developments in cloning are reported in the media regularly. We often have difficulty keeping up with these developments and struggle to know how to respond to cloning from a specifically Christian perspective. There can be no doubt that this is a fascinating area that has thrown up many deep and significant issues. What does it really mean to be human? What makes a person an individual? Will clones have souls? Is the soul beyond genetic description?
The purpose of this essay is to outline some of the recent significant developments in this area and in the next article to draw out some of the key ethical and theological issues that arise from cloning.
Stories arising from the success of this technology appear in media frequently, especially so as Melbourne is one of the leading centres in the world for this type of research. Doctors and scientists can now control directly the fertilization process in a laboratory setting. So fine is this control that even an egg and a single sperm can be used to produce a possible pregnancy. Although we are all familiar with these terms it is helpful to remember that this is still a relatively recent field of medical endeavour. On the one hand we stand in awe and give thanks as we see the benefit that many childless couples have received from this technology. On the other hand we must feel concern when we see this same technology being used to determine the sex of a future child simply to fulfill parents’ wishes.
Most cells perform general cellular functions that are common to all cells. These are the so-called ‘housekeeping’ functions. However, it needs to be borne in mind that cells are specialized and perform functions quite unique to that particular part of the body or organ. For example, cells in the kidney perform functions that are highly complex but completely different from those in the liver. They do this because each cell has the genetic material to make the biochemical machinery to perform these highly specialised functions. What is not always appreciated is that every cell contains the genetic machinery to perform every function of the entire body. However, cells only perform those functions relevant to that particular cell type. Hence there are a lot of genes within each cell which lie dormant or switched off. In other words, cells undergo a process of differentiation by which they draw upon only a limited number of the genes to function in a specialised manner. Thus kidney cells use only those genes which code for kidney function even though they also contain those genes which are used for liver cells.
Once an egg and sperm fuse together to form a fertilized cell, an early stage of cell replication is seen in which these cells are quite ‘undifferentiated’ or without any specialised functions. Each cell at this stage has the potential to develop into an individual. After a very short period of time the process of differentiation begins and cannot under normal circumstances be reversed. Maternal or identical twins develop at this early undifferentiated stage.
A team of researchers at the Roslin Institute in Scotland made the pivotal breakthrough in 1996 when they took the genetic material from the cell of a sheep’s udder and injected it into the unfertilized egg of another sheep. This process has been termed Nuclear Cell Transfer. The injected material contained the entire animal’s genetic material but only those parts responsible for udder function were switched on or in use. The egg containing the new genetic material went on to develop into an embryo and a sheep was eventually born which was an exact replica of the sheep whose udder cells were used. The newborn sheep was named Dolly .
Since then there has been a flurry of similar experiments using other animals such as mice, cattle, pigs and monkeys. It appears to be only a matter of time before the first human could be cloned.
Cloning is generally divided into two categories. Reproductive cloning would result in the production of an entire individual. Such applications would be mainly in the treatment of infertility or in the birth of a healthy child when either parent is known to suffer from a serious genetic abnormality that could be passed on to any offspring. These applications are fortunately rather limited. Others might propose that this could also be used to generate clones of Mozart or Einstein and so enrich the human race. Reproductive cloning has been seen generally as unacceptable by the scientific community on the grounds of the ethical concerns.
In contrast, therapeutic cloning applies to the production not of individuals but of parts of individuals in the form of spare organs or tissues which could then be used to replace or repair defective organs in oneself or in other individuals. This has enormous potential medically. Transplantation of vital organs is now commonplace in medicine. However, current supply of organs cannot keep up with demand by patients. As a result many patients die waiting for transplants. To be able to clone ‘spare parts’ would provide a major medical breakthrough for doctors treating patients with serious illnesses such as heart, kidney and liver failure.
The Human Genome: Independent research teams in USA announced that the entire genetic material of the human species was now known. This means that the details of each of the 100,000 genes that make us human are now known in detail. This result has been the culmination of many years of a concerted research effort. The task now for scientists is to make sense of this enormous amount of information. Whilst the actual composition of the genes may be known, what the genes actually are responsible for is not known. This can crudely be compared to the task of a motor mechanic being handed the entire components of an unknown car in kit form and being asked to assemble it without an instruction manual!
Once again the significance of this development needs to be considered. Many illnesses can be traced solely to a defect in only one gene. Knowing what this defect is may lead to a certain treatment or open up the way for gene therapy in the future. Fortunately most of these types of genetic disorders are relatively uncommon. Information gained from the Human Genome Project will be of great benefit in these conditions. Many common conditions, however, whilst not directly due to a specific genetic problem may nonetheless be influenced by a person’s genetic makeup. Doctors are often faced with two patients with the same disease and yet they are affected in entirely different ways or the severity of the illness may differ between individuals. Whilst these differences are influenced in part by a person’s genetic makeup, environmental influences and life-style factors are also important. Common illnesses such as high blood pressure, many cancers and psychiatric illness are also thought to have strong genetic influences. Through the Human Genome Project it is hoped that these specific genes will eventually be identified. The problem then will be how to handle this information. These illnesses are very common and all of us probably carry around in our genes the predisposition to many problems. Thankfully we don’t know about most of them!
These three developments mean that there is now the technological base to create human clones. There is also now the potential to identify genetic defects and to seek eradication of these defects by cloning. We cannot think about cloning without coming face to face with issues that go the core of our human-ness. Is our response simply one of fearing new technology? Will cloning open a Pandora’s box or a can of worms for humanity?