Cloning

A review on the bioethics of human embryo research would not be complete without a brief reference to the most exciting scientific achievement over the past few years namely mammalian cloning.

The announcement by Wilmut et al., in February 1997, that a lamb had been produced (not created because creation is only for God) by transferring the nucleus of an adult mammary cell from a sheep into an emptied-out egg cell and implanting it, took most people by surprise(71). This largely unanticipated development demonstrates that asexual reproduction of mammals can be brought about, with the possibility it may also work in humans.      

Though the birth of the lamb Dolly was the first success out of 277 attempts from the adult nuclear transfer yet it is expected that results could be markedly improved in future, with the development of technology,  as happened in other innovations and new techniques. Such development has many implications that need to be thought through so that sensible and ethical policy can be put in place.

Several statements had been issued on this important subject by many scientific bodies and scientific and non scientific organizations. However, most of these early statements did not clearly define what is meant by human cloning, distinguish between embryo splitting and somatic nuclear transfer or distinguish between cloning for producing a human being and cloning of human embryos for research and therapeutic purposes only. (Serour, 1997)(72).