In this blog post, I will consider from a bioethical perspective whether human cloning technology is a legitimate choice for scientific advancement.
The development of modern biomedical science and technology brings us numerous benefits, such as extending human life and improving the quality of life, but it also raises new issues that we have never experienced in the past, such as genetic manipulation. This leads to the search for various solutions at the ethical, legal, and social levels, and the discipline that studies this is called bioethics. The discipline of bioethics was developed in the United States in the 1970s, and American scholar Potter defined bioethics as a new discipline that combines biological knowledge and human value systems.
Interest in bioethics began with cell cloning and expanded greatly with the successful cloning of a reptile in 1997, followed by the world’s first mammal in 1999. The success of mammal cloning can easily lead to the idea that human cloning is possible if this technology is applied to humans. The human being created in this way is very different from the natural process of human birth, and there is a strong aversion to human cloning in that it is essentially the deliberate creation of a specific human being for a specific purpose. There is also the question of whether a human being cloned through the process of genetic engineering is the same human being. Of course, they are genetically identical, but as we can see in identical twins, they are thought of as different human beings with different personalities.
Let’s take a look at how genetically engineered human clones are created. Human cloning is generally done using a method called “somatic cell nuclear transfer.” This method is a technology that induces development by removing the nucleus from a woman’s spare egg and implanting the nucleus of the somatic cell to be cloned. The embryo created in this way is called a “somatic cell cloned embryo,” and if this embryo is implanted into the uterus of a surrogate mother, the fetus can grow. This method means that a single life can be born without the union of a sperm and an egg, and cloning is the same as creating a genetically identical human being.
The act of creating a cloned human using genetic engineering technology disrupts the order of human civilization. The human order of life, which has been maintained for thousands of years, is to have children through the union of a man and a woman, form a family, and form a human society through the aggregation of such families. However, human cloning technology is an unacceptable technology because it disrupts the foundation of the most basic order of human beings.
In addition to the above reasons for opposing human cloning in general, there are many other reasons to oppose human cloning scientifically and ethically. First, from a scientific perspective, the success of human cloning is difficult, and there is the problem of premature aging. In the case of mammalian cloning, which is similar to human cloning, the success rate is less than 5%. Cloned animals are often born with malformations, especially in the heart or brain. If human cloning technology is applied, ethical issues may arise as to who will be responsible for a deformed baby born. There is also the issue of premature aging. There are studies that show that cloned individuals age faster than normal individuals due to the nature of the method of transplanting the nucleus of an adult’s cells.
However, some people counter this scientific objection by saying, “If a method is developed that completely solves the risks of human cloning, then we should support human cloning.” This can be countered with convincing ethical arguments against human cloning.
In addition to the scientific evidence, the ethical grounds I will present provide an opportunity to rethink the feasibility of human cloning. Children who are cloned without natural parents through human cloning will disrupt the fundamental structure and foundation of society, which is the family. Due to the nature of human cloning technology using nuclear replacement technology, cloned humans cannot be identified as their parents. This is because a person who provides eggs, a person who provides somatic cells, and a person who accepts fertilized eggs and carries a pregnancy are all necessary. The ambiguity of the family concept formed in this way affects the basic structure of society and is therefore not ethically valid.
In addition, there is a major ethical problem in that human cloning “objectifies” humans. All humans born naturally through the union of parents have basic human rights and dignity. However, cloned humans born for a purpose are in violation of human dignity, which says, “Treat humans as ends, not means.” If there is a dichotomy between naturally born humans and artificially cloned humans, there is a high probability of social discrimination. This dualism destroys the unity of humanity and risks collapsing the moral foundation of humanity through unjust discrimination. Some may argue that there is no reason to discriminate against cloned humans, as they are only slightly different from naturally born humans in the process of their birth. However, this society is composed of diverse people, and it is very likely that discrimination against cloned humans will be formed due to each individual’s firm values or religious beliefs.
Of course, those who support human cloning also offer various reasons. The two main reasons for supporting it are that it can solve diseases or physical disabilities that cannot be treated with modern medicine and the problem of infertility. What I am arguing in this article is against the cloning of an individual human being. The artificial creation of a new human being for the treatment of a specific human being is opposed on social, scientific, and ethical grounds. However, the creation of new organs for treatment is possible by creating partial organs instead of creating an individual using adult stem cell technology or reprogrammed stem cell technology, which can be argued against the first reason. In addition, I believe that it is impossible to solve the problem of infertility through human cloning. The birth of a child is achieved by the mixture of the genes of the parents, and the child resembles the characteristics of both parents. However, since pregnancy through human cloning does not result in the birth of a child with the mixture of the genes of two people, but in the creation of a cloned individual, I believe that the concept of “child” is diluted and therefore impossible.
This shows that there are enough reasons to oppose human cloning, both scientific and ethical, as well as reasons that are intrinsic. It also refutes the two reasons for supporting human cloning. In the process, it was stated that the development of adult stem cell technology for therapeutic purposes or the development of induced pluripotent stem cell technology, rather than the cloning of human “individuals,” is supported. Even if a study is of great benefit to humans, it will not be valid from the perspective of bioethics if it harms human dignity. A thorough bioethical perspective should be introduced to many new studies, and human “individual” cloning technology should also be strictly prohibited to protect human dignity because it is not valid from the perspective of bioethics.
