U.S. shouldn’t ban cloning research

South Korean scientists have cloned human embryos, in research they hope will help to treat… South Korean scientists have cloned human embryos, in research they hope will help to treat such conditions as diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, but they do not intend to clone humans with this discovery. This research was published yesterday in “Science,” and it has been hailed as “landmark” and “amazing” by American scientists interviewed in The New York Times.

American opposition to this research has already been voiced, particularly by the chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics, who “called for federal legislation to stop human cloning for any purpose,” according to The Times.

By calling for this, the chairman, Dr. Leon Kass, is asking the United States to remove itself from what has become an international discussion on the merits and ethics of cloning. Rather than calling for sensible legislation that would ban human cloning for baby-making purposes, but not for research purposes, as South Korea has, he proposed an outright moratorium that, if passed, would give the United States no ground in arguing for reasonable research in other countries.

Kass described the work at Seoul National University, led by Dr. Woo Suk Hwang and Dr. Shin Yong Moon, as part of a slippery slope, one that would lead to eventual “Brave New World”-style baby making.

But these scientists are clearly not playing God. They tried 14 different protocols; they took 242 eggs, of which they selected 176 to remove genetic material from. Thirty of these grew into blastocysts – microscopic balls of cells – 20 of which they could extract material from, and only one of which yielded a stem cell line. All of this was done in laboratory dishes, yielding embryos of no more than 100 cells, no bigger than speck of dust.

Dystopian visions of manufactured babies do not match up with the precise science involved in these experiments. These embryos, if implanted in a woman, could yield viable offspring, as laboratory growth and implantation is already used in in vitro fertilization. Yet this was not the intention of the experimenters, nor is it their future goal.

And, if it is to remain this way, the United States should draw clear distinctions between legitimate science and the rogue experiments that could receive interest and funding if stem cell research is not allowed. This is no longer a national issue – it’s an international one.

There is a clear middle ground here. As Gerald Schatten, an animal-cloning researcher at Pitt’s School of Medicine told The Washington Post, “It would be naive to say this isn’t a step closer to irresponsible people attempting reproductive cloning.” Yet the article also reports that he “opposes human cloning but favors the research.” The United States should do the same, and do so quickly, in order to maintain its place in the world’s scientific community.