Pros and cons in human cloning<\/p>\n
Prapti Widinugraheni, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Local scientists believe the state should start drafting rules
\non research into human cloning. Curious by nature and funds
\npermitting, researchers aren't likely to quit their labs until
\nthey have produced the ultimate human clone.<\/p>\n
The recent announcement by U.S.-based Advanced Cell Technology
\nInc. that its scientists had managed to clone human embryos is
\nevidence of this relentless quest for knowledge.<\/p>\n
Dr. Baharuddin Tappa, head of the Division of Cell and Tissue
\nCulture at the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said the
\nU.S. firm's announcement only confirmed what he believed all
\nalong: human cloning would happen soon, whether one liked it or
\nnot.<\/p>\n
\"I'm not surprised about the recent developments in human
\ncloning. It was bound to happen sooner or later. So far, I see it
\nas a positive development because the cloning was done purely for
\nthe purpose of treating diseases,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Although a law on cloning seems an extravagant irrelevancy in
\nthis land of dwindling scientific development -- after all, for
\nmost of us the arrival of Dolly the sheep, the first cloned adult
\nmammal, in Scotland four years ago, bears about as much relevance
\nto us as cheap sci-fi -- Baharuddin has reason to believe that
\ntruly successful human cloning cannot be that far off.<\/p>\n
\"At the moment, the success rate in cloning adult animals is
\nlow, although there are endless experiments. Scientists are still
\nat the stage of achieving success, or improving the success rate;
\nnothing has been made commercial yet. For human cloning, it will
\nbe a similar case, though I'm sure most experiments will be done
\nin secret to avoid controversy. But as soon as the results are
\npositive, it will become a commercial venture, just as in the
\ncase of test-tube babies, which were also once a source of
\ncontroversy,\" he pointed out.<\/p>\n
Baharuddin said a national biotechnology commission was
\ncurrently drawing up guidelines for biotechnology research, but
\nthat would focus more on testing and labeling transgenic, or
\ngenetically-modified, animals or animal organs, both imported and
\nlocally produced, to ensure that they were safe for health and
\nindustry purposes, human consumption or breeding. No such
\nguidelines were planned for human cloning research.<\/p>\n
\"For human cloning, guidelines should state clearly the
\npurpose of the research and the level at which it will be
\npermitted. If the aim is merely to multiply certain humans, the
\ncloning will be of no use. Even in animal cloning that would be
\nuseless because it would reduce biodiversity. Populations are
\nbetter and have a higher chance of survival if they have a high
\ngenetic diversity.\"<\/p>\n
However, human cloning research should not be banned
\naltogether, particularly if it is limited to cloning for
\ntherapeutic purposes and experiments serving humanitarian ends.<\/p>\n
\"A patient has the right to be cured. And if cloning can
\nprovide this, the possibility should be explored,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Following the birth of Dolly, legislation to ban human cloning
\nis now either pending or has already been enacted in several
\ncountries, including the United States, Japan, the UK, Israel and
\nGermany.<\/p>\n
Prof. Teuku Jacob from the Bioanthropology Laboratory of
\nGadjah Mada University's School of Medicine, says that although
\nit is evident that animal cloning is beneficial to humans, human
\ncloning might have enormous irreversible negative effects, yet
\nunknown to scientists.<\/p>\n
\"In conducting research, scientists go through three stages:
\nFirst, curiosity prompts them to find out how something works.
\nSecond, they ask whether anything can be done about it and third,
\nthey question whether or not the whole process is beneficial for
\nhumankind. They often forget this last stage,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In cloning there are embryos that must be eliminated, he
\npoints out, and still others that are allowed to develop without
\nknowing whether they will be defective once they are born or when
\nthey become adults.<\/p>\n
\"This is the most critical issue and scientists, who are in
\neffect playing little gods, do not know what lies beyond. Human
\ncloning implies producing humans in an unnatural way and changing
\nhuman reproduction techniques; it might also mean producing
\nnumerous \"xeroxed\" humans, which would homogenize the human
\nspecies and make it victim to evolutionary processes. Even if a
\n\"super human\" were produced today, it might not survive the
\nearth's ever-changing environment tomorrow,\" Jacob said.<\/p>\n
He insisted that as long as scientists had insufficient
\nknowledge on the issue it would be better to perfect and limit
\nadult cloning research to animals.<\/p>\n
Even animal cloning experiments have produced undesirable
\nresults, he noted, and although things might seem all right in
\nthe short term, there might be unwanted effects in the long run,
\nnone of which would be easy to correct.<\/p>\n
He pointed out too that adult animal cloning researchers might
\nsoon face defenders of animal rights who are a significant
\nnongovernmental force, particularly in developed countries.<\/p>\n
\"In the case of human cloning research, Indonesia is better
\noff just standing back and observing. Only when the benefits are
\n100 percent certain, with little or no chance of failure, could
\nwe then consider adapting the technology.\"<\/p>\n
Jacob felt there was no urgent need now for legislation on
\nhuman cloning research, although broad guidelines might be useful
\nso that when the time came, Indonesia would need only fine-tune
\nthem.<\/p>\n
\"In the meantime, let's consider it safer -- and more ethical
\n-- not to do it,\" he said.<\/p>\n
What you should know about cloning:
\n * Cloning involves replacing the nucleus -- which contains the
\ngenes -- of an egg with another cell's nucleus of an individual's
\nbody.
\n * No sex is involved in the production of clones.
\n * Clones will have the same genes as their single parent.
\n * Transgenic animals have already been produced to aid in the
\ntreatment of human disease.<\/p>",
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