Abstract
In a recent publication Tom Douglas and Katrien Devolder have proposed a new account of genetic parenthood, building on the work of Heidi Mertes. Douglas and Devolder’s account aims to solve, among other things, the question of who are the genetic parents of an individual created through somatic cell nuclear transfer (i.e. cloning): (a) the nuclear DNA provider or (b) the progenitors of the nuclear DNA provider. Such a question cannot be answered by simply appealing to the folk account of genetic parenthood, according to which the genetic parents of an individual are those individuals who produced the egg and sperm, respectively, which fused to create the embryo. It cannot be so as in cloning there is no fertilization as such. In this article I critically examine Douglas and Devolder’s new account of genetic parenthood and demonstrate that it is vulnerable to counterexamples that exploit the lack of a condition specifying that genetic parents should cause a child’s coming into existence.
Highlights
The sheep is probably the most famous sheep in the world, and she is rightly so as she was the first mammal produced via cloning
In cloning the nucleus of a somatic cell is transferred into an enucleated oocyte, and it is activated by external means
If everything goes accord‐ ing to plan the cell will begin to divide, the embryo will be transferred into a womb and after some time, an ‘nearly identical genetic copy’ of the individual who provided the somatic cell will be born.[1]
Summary
The sheep is probably the most famous sheep in the world, and she is rightly so as she was the first mammal produced via cloning. KEYWORDS assisted reproduction, cloning, genetic parenthood, Heidi Mertes, in vitro reproduction, mitochondrial replacement therapy, reproduction, stem cell derived gametes
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