On Oct. 13, a human embryo was for the first time successfully created in the lab, bringing the cloning of individual human beings within easy reach. The procedure that created the embryo is called therapeutic cloning.
Therapeutic cloning is being done specifically for the cloning of embryos for the harvesting of what are known as stem cells, not for the creation of replicated individuals. But the technology necessary for therapeutic cloning is the same needed for reproductive cloning. The development of embryonic cloning therefore brings human cloning directly to our proverbial doorstep.
A company called American Cell Technology (ACT), a private biotechnology company, cloned the embryo and let it develop for 12 days before destroying it.
The job was done by removing DNA from the skin cell of a man's leg and inserting it into a hollowed-out cow's egg. This created a viable embryo, which could very well have gone to term if implanted into the uterus of a healthy female volunteer.
The reason doctors and genetic engineers want to do this is that embryos have huge numbers of stem cells -- undifferentiated cells -- cells that have yet to be assigned a specific duty, such as growing into tissue, killing invading germs and viruses or remembering something.
But in unraveling one the great mysteries of the ages, we have embarked on a jaunt through an ethical and moral minefield. Are we ready to live in a world side by side with clones of ourselves or our dear departed? What rights would clones have? When would they be judged "people." Should we grow headless bodies for the purpose of replacement parts?
With the first full-blown human clones apparently imminent, these and many other questions remain wholly unanswered.
Now that the cloning of people is upon us, those in public office have much thinking to do.
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