Developments in Cloning Technology Revive Ethics Controversy
Jan 22nd, 2008 • Posted in: NewsIn California, scientists report a breakthrough in producing embryo; cloned animal products are deemed safe to eat in U.S. and Europe, but an ethics panel says the process is being rushed; and after much debate, British scientists get the go-ahead to study human-animal clones
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Cloning — human, animal, and human-animal — ignited ethics debate last week. Among the stories:
- Scientists in California report say they have created cloned embryos from single skin cells taken from adults, a scientific advance that could open the door for various medical treatments, but which also reignited the on-again, off-again debate about the ethics of cloning. TIME magazine reports that the technique, which has not been shown conclusively to be practical, would have the advantage of not requiring the destruction of embryos, which has been a legal and moral barrier for stem cell research. But as a report from the San Diego Union-Tribune points out, the reported initial success of the technique does demonstrate that human cloning remains a clear feasibility — a development that is likely to rekindle that particular area of debate. The California team says that while the embryos it produced could be transplanted into a uterus, they have no intent to try to create babies from the embryos.
- An ethics panel in Europe has voiced strong misgivings over cloned animal products, turning up the temperature in a debate over what critics have dubbed “Frankenfood.” The Agence France-Presse reports that the European Group on Ethics, in an opinion delivered to the European Commission, said “it does not see convincing arguments to justify the production of food from clones and their offspring.” The report followed endorsements of the safety of cloned food by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a similar opinion from the European Food Safety Authority. At issue, according to reports from Newsweek and the Economist, are claims that the science is too new and complex to make judgments about food safety, complaints that the process may produce sick and disabled animals, and allegations that the genetic alterations of food supplies are being pushed because of their profit potential.
- Debates over human and animal cloning intersected last week when it was announced that U.K. authorities gave scientists permission to create human-animal embryos for stem cell research, according to US News & World Report. Only two research panels are licensed to conduct the investigations, and the hybrid embryos must be destroyed within 14 days. The measure has faced stiff opposition from many quarters, including religious groups, which claim that the process tinkers with the fundamental definition of life.
Sources: San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 18 — TIME, Jan. 17 — AFP, Jan. 17 — Newsweek, Jan. 18 — Economist, Jan. 18 — US News & World Report, Jan. 18.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Nov. 19, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 2, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Nov. 6, 2006 — Related Newsline story, June 12, 2006 — Related Newsline story, May 15, 2006.
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