January 25, 2003

In the world of today, many science-fiction theories are slowly beginning to take the shape of reality and fact. New technologies and experiments reveal to us that in mankind’s search for discovery and knowledge, scientists are experimenting in areas never understood before. The most recent and bizarre experiment in one such area is cloning a human being. Previously scientists had succeeded in cloning a sheep named Dolly and after that many new experiments were carried out on pigs and mice. Even though the idea of people being cloned was something that we thought might never happen and was something that one only saw in science-fiction movies, there always existed a possibility that if animals could be reproduced identically in laboratories, humans may be next.

The news that a research facility named ‘Clonaid’ had successfully cloned a human baby, stirred surprise and debate the world over. Should humans and even animals be reproduced like photocopies one after the other? How does the process work? And how frightening is the whole idea? These are some of the most important questions facing mankind today.

The cloning process
Many times we have heard the phrase, ‘it’s all in the genes’. What are they basically? They are strings of chemicals that create the proteins present in our bodies. The long coiled chains in which they are found are called ‘Chromosomes’. The ‘chromosomes are situated in the nucleus of the cells in our body. Every individual has its own particular type of strings (DNA) or genes and they are in huge numbers. The interesting part is that no two people have the same kind of DNA and their genetic make-up is different. Just like a fingerprint. Every person has the same kind of tiny lines in their skin that make up a fingerprint but the formation and curves of these lines are different in each individual. That is the reason that each and every person is unique and special.

Any man or woman can have themselves cloned by having their cells copied and grown and the produced individual would be the donor woman or man’s own twin. Nature also produces clones in the form of twins. But some twins do not look alike and have different traits. Cells taken from a person’s hair, skin, nails, can be implanted or grown to multiply into more identical cells in laboratories to be used for specific parts for another person’s body or as a whole person. On the other hand, genetic engineering is something that would change the genes in an already living person. For example, if a person had kidney disease because of some defective genes in the body, fixing those genes would cure one permanently of the sickness. New and healthy genes would be put into the body, which would get into the cells and develop healthy genes.

It is not necessary that a clone will look, behave and act exactly like its donor as skin tone, expressions, behaviour and habits are very much influenced by climatic conditions, experiences, upbringing and social influences of a person. That is the reason that two people will act differently in the same situation. One can be mean and the other can be helpful. Personality is often influenced by where and how a person grew up. Usually the hidden talents of an individual are brought to the surface by understanding parents, a teacher, relative or a friend. The clone of a great painter might not get as famous as him or her due to the lack of opportunity or guidance.

When ‘Dolly’ the sheep was cloned years ago, the idea that someday, scientists will clone a whole human being was not something that we were familiar with. Now, all over the West, many experiments are being carried out as the argument continues that though cloning a complete human is not such a good idea, growing body parts for medical purposes will greatly benefit mankind. Additionally, the research will help in our understanding and doing away with many incurable diseases.

No matter how weird we think the whole idea is, scientists argue that the benefits or uses of human cloning are many. They can be divided in two categories. The first one being medical and the other, social.

Medical benefits
* Many patients with disabling diseases would benefit because organs could be cloned selectively for a specific part of the body or a whole person could be cloned for different organs to be donated.

* There would be no rejection of donated body organs by the person as the cloned organs would be a genetic match for that particular person.

* Many diseases like cancer would be understood by researching the reason for the rapid cell growth of the disease.

* Cells including diseased nerves and muscle tissues, which would be regenerated, could replace damaged sections of the body.

* Scientists could understand the mysteries and working of the human body, for example the reason for obesity, whether it is inherited by a person in his or her genes or is only the result of over-eating.

* Many illnesses could be wiped out completely by genetic engineering in which the sick genes are removed from the healthy ones after identifying the cells.

Social aspects
An exact copy of a person or a clone would have some interesting uses in society.

* Any person, who wants to have a chance to live his or her life all over again, would be able to do that by having himself or herself cloned and by raising that child all over again.

* Parents could have a chance of raising their child once again after his or her unfortunate death by replication of the deceased child’s genes.

* People who cannot have children would be able to have as many children as they want by cloning the father or the mother or even any other relative.

* Perfect children could be born by genetically removing the disease from the cells and planting them with completely healthy ones before a baby is born.

* Made-to-order children with the kind of abilities and capabilities that the parents require could be born by selecting the particular genes.

* Since it has been proven that originally the cloning procedure was performed with frozen sheep cells, any extinct or dead species of animals can be brought back to life or reproduced.

Disadvantages
Many countries have banned human cloning due to ethical, religious and moral reasons. Several individuals and organizations argue that we should not play around with nature and let certain realities be a natural part of our existence and our lives. Moreover, what about the emotional part? What will the clone go through knowing that it is a copy of an already existing individual? It will not have any mother and father as parents like normal children but a donor. It will be strange to see his own father as a twin brother and for a girl to have a mother as a twin sister. What will the reactions be of a woman who knows that the baby she is having will be her twin sister? Human beings will have to undergo strange changes in concepts of parenthood, siblings and individuality. When ‘Dolly’ the sheep was cloned, many unsuccessful attempts were first made before scientists successfully cloned the original.

In the same way, how many human clones will be discarded as unsuccessful attempts before the right result emerges. Human life is precious, argue some people and not to be played around with. Many countries in the West have banned human cloning because they argue that humans, even if they are clones cannot be thrown away like a piece of rubbish. Researchers predict that there will be a black-market for humans as people try to buy genes of perfect individuals who they know and admire like movie stars, celebrities and geniuses. These genes might not be available easily and thus might be sold privately at high prices. The worse part will be when regular humans and clones interact with each other each knowing the significant difference in how they were born. While humans boast of being originals will the clones be ridiculed by society of being copies of real people and not originals making the clone feel less of a person and inferior. In other words will most of the clones be emotionally disturbed individuals? It remains to be seen though, whether this will stop the rest of the scientific community from experimenting with cloning humans.

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