Ethical dilemmas of cloning

Abstract

The announcement in February 1997 of Dolly, the first mammal cloned from a cell of an adult animal, generated considerable interest, both nationally and internationally. Hailed as a remarkable scientific breakthrough, Dolly the sheep triggered much discussion about the ethics of cloning, and, in particular, the potential for reproductive cloning of human beings. The futuristic debate about cloning human beings and how this might dramatically affect the future of our society has, by and large, overshadowed the major motivation behind the scientific research which led to Dolly. In animal breeding, the rapid spread of 'desirable' traits within stocks of domestic animals is of commercial importance and has a long history. Not only might nuclear-replacement technology offer a short cut for selective breeding purposes, it could also produce animals capable of producing therapeutic proteins in their milk. For example, Polly, also born in 1997, is a transgenic sheep created using nuclear-replacement technology by the same research group, which produces a special human protein in her milk. This protein might come to be used to treat patients with blood-clotting disorders such as haemophilia. Furthermore, although still in its early stages, the research at the Roslin Institute has shown that a nucleus from an adult animal could be 'reprogrammed'. The work should offer ever greater insights into the origins of cancer and other cellular development processes, such as ageing and cell commitment.