Send in the Clones “Scientists have made a breakthrough to clone a human being”, as one TV newsman put it. While his description was off the mark, the real news was almost as fantastic: researchers at George Washington University split single human embryos into identical copies, a technology that has sparked a storm of controversy around the world. Claiming they began the experiments to spur a debate, the researchers got more than they bargained for.The Vatican condemned the technology as evil; one German magazine called the research “immoral”, and sociologists in the U.S. disagreed hotly over whether the technology should be offered to infertile couples,couples incapable of having children. The news left people wondering what the technology is all about. Actually what the researchers did was to extend a technique that has been used in livestock for more than a decade. The physicians used tube fertilization technology to create 17 human embryos in a laboratory. When the embryos had grown enough to contain 2-8 cells, the researchers separated them into 48 cells. Two of the separated cells survived for a few days in the lab, developing into new human embryos smaller than the head of a pin. Though no great technical feat, the procedure opens a range of unsettling possibilities. For example,parents could have one embryo implanted in the mother’s womb and store its identical siblings indefinitely.The spare embryos could be implanted later, allowing parents to create a family of identical children of different ages. Spare embryos could also be sold to other families, who could see from an already born child how their embryo would turn out. Even more bizarre, a woman conceived from a split embryo could give birth to her own twin. Such scenarios raise painful issues about the rights of parents and meaning of individuality. Some sociologists maintain that parents have the right to do with embryos what they will, including having twins born years apart. But others fear that the procedure unacceptably alters what it means to be human being, especially when the younger twins are forced to see older versions of themselves. Amid the controversy, one thing seems certain: the experiments will continue. While cloning is forbidden in Germany, fertility research is proceeding in the U.S. without federal regulations. But researchers must obtain approval from their hospital board. Without federal oversight, the highly competitive fertility business may soon use the new technology to attract clients. As a doctor told the scientific journal Science, “It was just a matter of time.” ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________
