Cloning
• Greek klon = twig (cuttings from one
original plant)
• Cell cultures: cell multiplication by
cell division (mitosis)
• Identical twins -- e.g.
Dolly was born 5 July 1996 to three mothers
(one provided the egg, another the DNA and a
third carried the cloned embryo to term). She
lived for 6 years
Animals that have been cloned
# 1 Carp
# 2 Cat
# 3 Cattle
# 4 Deer
# 5 Dog
# 6 Ferret
# 7 Frog (tadpole)
# 8 Fruit Flies
# 9 Gaur
# 10 Goat
# 11 Horse
# 12 Mice
# 13 Mouflon
# 14 Mule
# 15 Pig
# 16 Pyrenean ibex
# 17 Rabbit
# 18 Rat
# 19 Rhesus Monkey
# 20 Sheep
# 21 Water Buffalo
# 22 Wolf
Star Wars
Episode II: The Attack of the Clones
Star Wars
Episode II: The
Attack of the
Clowns
Therapeutic
Cloning
Theory
(not fact)
Two Types of Cloning and
Important Terminology
1. Reproductive -- bringing a ‘clone’ to full term for the
purpose of reproducing a good ‘specimen’ or for body
parts, breeding, etc. Obviously, the vast majority of
people are against this.
2. Therapeutic Cloning -- conceiving a clone (human life)
for the purpose of destroying it -- in particular, to draw
out of stem cells at the beginning stage of life.
Totipotent – Capable of giving origin to all the cell
types in the organism, person, e.g., fertilized egg
developing into a whole organism
Mind/Brain
Manipulation
Master Chief
Genetically
engineered
soldier in
Halo 3
Cautionary Tales:
“Smart” Machines of the Future
Total Recall (1990)
• In an era when it has become
scientifically feasible to implant
false memories directly into a
person's mind, wipe out a previous
identity, and create a fictitious
personae so real that the subject
believes it to be genuine, how does
one know what is and what isn't
authentic? This is the question that
Douglas Quaid (Arnold
Schwarzenegger), and, to a lesser
extent, the audience, must ponder.
How much of his life is real? How
many of his memories actually
happened and which ones have
been manufactured?
Jake Sully, a former U.S.
Marine who was wounded
and paralyzed from the
waist down in combat on
Earth.
Jake is selected to
participate in the Avatar
program, which will
enable him to walk. On
Pandora, through his
Avatar body, Jake will be
able to walk again.
What happens if we really start doing things like this?
Raëlians
• Raëlians are UFO-cult
members who follow
Claude Vorilhon, a
Frenchman and former
motor sport journalist and
race-car driver who calls
himself Raël.
• Raël claims that on
December 13, 1973, he
saw a UFO "7 meters in
diameter made of a very
shiny silver metal and
moving in a total silence."
The Messenger
• Raël says a radiant
being emerged and
entrusted him with a
message revealing the
true origin of mankind.
• They told him that
henceforth he would be
known as Raël, which
means "messenger."
Cloning & Immortality
• Raël believes that
cloning is the way to
immortality.
• Raël: our alien creators
want us to be beautiful
and enjoy a sensuous
life, free from the
restrictions of traditional
Judeo-Christian morality
Should the Raelians be allowed to
clone human beings?
• Moral question:
– Is it ethical to clone a
human?
• Public policy question:
– Should the law allow
the cloning of humans?
“All the Reasons to Clone Human Beings” by Simon Smith
How would you respond to each of these?
•Medical breakthroughs - Human cloning technology is expected to result
in several miraculous medical breakthroughs. We may be able to cure
cancer if cloning leads to a better understanding of cell
differentiation. Theories exist about how cloning may lead to a cure for heart
attacks, a revolution in cosmetic surgery, organs for organ transplantation,
and predictions abound about how cloning technology will save thousands of
lives.
•Medical tragedies - Many people have suffered accidental medical
tragedies during their lifetimes. Read about a girl who needs a kidney, a
burn victim, a girl born with cosmetic deformities, a man who needs
a liver, a woman who is infertile because of cancer, and a father who
lost his only son. All these people favor cloning and want the science to
proceed.
•To cure infertility - The current options for infertile couples are painful,
expensive, and heart-breaking. Cloning has the potential to change the
world for infertile couples almost overnight.
•To fund research - A boy graduates from high school at age 18. He goes
to a pool party to celebrate. He confuses the deep end and shallow end and
dives head first into the pool, breaking his neck and becoming a
quadriplegic. He suffers chronic unbearable pain. At age 21 he inherits a 10
million dollar trust fund. He never marries or has children. At age 40 after
hearing about Dolly being a clone, he changes his will and has his DNA
stored for future human cloning. His future mother will be awarded one
million dollars to have him and raise him. His DNA clone will inherit a trust
fund. He dies feeling that although he was robbed of normal life, his
twin/clone will lead a better life.
•Bad parents - Did your parents destroy your life? Were they alcoholic,
child-beating molesters? Did you never have a chance? Interestingly,
human cloning allows you the opportunity to participate in choosing the
parents for your clone.
•A Child's right to be better than its parents - It's been suggested that
parents have a duty to see that their children have better lives than they
do. This may mean making our children live longer, helping them to be
resistant to cancer, heart disease, any familial diseases, and all the other
problems that can be cured using what we learn from human cloning
technology.
•Economics - Countries that fail to research human cloning will suffer
economically. (China is aggressively pursuing cloning -- not mentioned in
his article).
•Homosexual couples - From one of our readers: "gay couples go through
so much...not to mention all the controversy...when they decide that they
are ready for a baby. People question their right to bring a child that
technically isn't related to them into a lifestyle that falls below societies
views of normal.....human cloning could allow two gay men to take 23
chromosomes from each male and put them into a single egg to truly have a
baby of their own. Also two gay women could use this technology to conceive
a child of their own using their individual 23 chromosomes.” (theory)
•Randy Wicker, Homosexual activist writes: "The right to single parenthood
is much larger than simply a gay rights issue. It is a universal human rights
issue. Cloning breaks heterosexuality's traditional monopoly on reproduction.
It empowers every human being with a reproductive capacity....Cloning
redefines the entire concept of family.”
•To be a better parent - Human cloning can improve the parent-child
relationship. Raising a clone would be like having a child with an instruction
manual. You would have a head start on the needs and talents of your
child. We would have a head start on understanding the genetic component
of a cloned child.
•You want your clone to lead the life that was meant to be yours The Human Cloning Foundation has been surprised by the number of people
that write to say that they would like to have a clone so that it may lead the
life that was meant to be theirs. Some see this life as a sacrifice so that the
life of their clone may be enriched.
•To have a better sense of identity - If we had some information about
ourselves, perhaps we could sooner or better discovery who we are. A clone
would have access to a tremendous amount of information about his or her
parent that could greatly help in understanding one's psyche and physical
attributes. All of this information could provide a better sense of identity.
•To make a future couple financially secure - With human cloning you
could give a couple in the future both a child from your DNA and the financial
assets from your lifetime to start out financially secure instead of struggling
as most couples do now.
•Because you believe in freedom - Freedom sometimes means having
tolerance for others and their beliefs. In America, some people believe gun
control and some don't. Some people believe in one religion and others in
another. In a free society we know that we must tolerate some views that
we don't agree with so that we all may be free. For this reason human
cloning should be allowed.
10 Arguments Against Cloning
1.
2.
3.
4.
Cloning is against the dignity of the human person
It separates the unitive and procreative act (like IVF).
It is unethical for us to design children.
Most would agree that it is egotistical for someone to
clone him/herself.
5. Cloning someone to harvest his/her organs or cells is
unethical – using them as a means to our end.
6. A clone is not a potential or possible life -- but is a life
that simply has the potential to grow.
Arguments against Cloning
7. Even if we were to clone someone, that person would be
different in essential ways from the original copied
individual.
8. Cloning is analogous to slavery -- treating a class of
human beings as a lower caste/class in order to use them
for our benefit.
9. We should not do everything we can do (genocide,
torture, etc.).
10. We do not have a ‘right to clone’ anymore than we have
a ‘right’ to commit other crimes -- murder, stealing, etc.
Therapeutic
Cloning
Theory
(not fact)
“I hear that the Church is against stem cell research.”
Answer: “Wrong”
One of the biggest misconceptions about stem-cell research is
that the Catholic Church opposes it. The Church, in fact, supports
five of the six types of stem cells.
1) Adult stem-cell research, involving the growth of stem cells from the
patient's own tissue or that of another living donor.
2) Umbilical Cord Blood: Stem cells developed from umbilical cord blood or
placentas after a delivery is completed.
3) Miscarriages: Cells from fetal tissue derived from miscarriages (also called
spontaneous abortions), as long as the parents give informed consent.
4) Wisdom teeth: Cells from wisdom teeth can be stored and used now. This
is, of course, ethical (next slide).
5) iPS – Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells – Scientists are able now to rewind
a cell to make it act like a pluripotent cell – The Church is not against this, as
it does not destroy human life
6) Embryonic Stem Cells: Only the use of embryonic stem cells is
morally unacceptable because it involves the killing of a human being.
Church
Teaching
A light in the
darkness
• The position of the Catholic
Church.
– The Magesterium: Every
possible act of cloning humans
is intrinsically evil.
– Cardinal William Keeler
• "Cloning is wrong because
they have human dignity,
and deserve to come into
the world in ways that
respect this dignity."
• "Each child has a right to
be conceived and born as
the fruit of a loving union
between husband and wife,
to be loved and accepted as
a new and distinct
individual.”
"The transmission of human
life is entrusted by nature to
a personal and conscious act
and as such is subject to the
all-holy laws of God:
immutable and inviolable
laws which must be
recognized and observed.
Finally, a child has the
right to be born. Each of us
has the responsibility of
guarding these rights for the
defenseless child. Never
must we slip into thinking
that anyone has the right to a
child at any cost, or that a
child is like a piece of
property to be had ("Donum
Vitae," II,8).
Church Teaching
• — Procedures designed to
influence the genetic inheritance
of a child, which are not
therapeutic, are morally wrong.
To try to correct a genetic
disorder, such as cystic fibrosis,
is morally permissible, whereas
to manipulate the genetic
structure to produce human
beings selected by sex or some
other quality is wrong. Attempts
to produce a "breed" of humans
through cloning, twin fission, or
parthenogenesis outside the
context of marriage or
parenthood is immoral. These
manipulations violate the
personal dignity of the human
being and attack his integrity and
identity. (Donum Vitae, I,6.)
A Light in the
Darkness
• — Any production of
human beings for the sake
of experimentation,
research, or the harvesting
of organs is morally
wrong. Such actions
reduce a human being to
simply disposable
biological material.
(Donum Vitae, I,5.)
• — Any medical research
or observation which
jeopardizes the health or
life of the unborn child is
morally wrong.
(Donum Vitae, I,5.)