In this blog post, we examine the ethical issues surrounding life cloning through examples of somatic cell cloning technology and consider the boundaries we can accept.
Biotechnology, particularly life cloning, is now inextricably linked to essential ethical questions in our society. The question of how far cloning can be ethically permitted and accepted is one that anyone researching or interested in biotechnology has likely pondered at least once. Issues like embryonic cloning, somatic cell cloning, and genetic manipulation raise diverse bioethical questions. This article aims to discuss the ethical problems surrounding somatic cell cloning, specifically focusing on the representative example of the cloned sheep, Dolly.
In 1997, Dolly the sheep, the first cloned animal created by somatic cell nuclear transfer, was born. Wilmut created a cloned sheep embryo by removing the nucleus from one sheep’s egg and injecting the nucleus from another sheep’s somatic cell. After implanting this embryo into a surrogate mother’s uterus, Dolly was born on the 277th attempt, succeeding after 276 failed tries. Dolly, born this way, was a cloned sheep resembling the donor sheep and was the first mammal produced without fertilization using a somatic cell nucleus.
Dolly’s birth holds two significant implications from a developmental biology perspective. First, she was the first cloned sheep produced from a fully mature adult cell. Prior to Dolly’s birth, it was believed that once a cell differentiated into a cell with a specific purpose, it could not be converted for another purpose. However, Dolly’s birth proved that even fully mature adult cells could be reprogrammed to function anew. Second, the birth of the cloned sheep Dolly demonstrated that asexual reproduction of higher animals was possible. This signified that new life could be replicated through a method other than sexual reproduction.
While this experiment holds significant importance, it has faced criticism for sacrificing 276 innocent lives to create a single life, Dolly. This is one of the primary reasons opponents of life cloning cite against it. They argue that life cloning is a desecration of life, sacrificing countless lives for the sake of one. Is Dolly the cloned sheep truly a life born through this desecrating method that sacrificed so many lives? To address this, we must first answer whether a fertilized egg is a life. We must consider whether a fertilized egg, which has not even implanted, has the potential to develop into a life.
Can a fertilized egg, which has not yet begun development, be recognized as a life solely because it has the potential to develop into one? Most countries restrict research on cloning embryonic cells to within 14 days after fertilization or cloning. Conducting experiments using life in countries that recognize the dignity of life is unacceptable. If a fertilized egg is indeed life, why do most countries striving to protect the dignity of life permit the use of embryonic cells within 14 days post-fertilization for research purposes? This implies that a fertilized egg itself is difficult to view as a single life.
Even assuming we recognize a fertilized egg that has not undergone development as life, can we also call a fertilized egg that has not implanted life? For a living being to be born, the fertilized egg must implant in the uterus and undergo the developmental process throughout the pregnancy period. The fertilized egg receives nutrients from the mother during pregnancy and develops into a fetus. The processes of ovulation, fertilization, and cell division before implantation cannot be considered a state of pregnancy. A fertilized egg before implantation cannot receive nutrients from the mother and cannot develop into a fetus, making it unlikely to develop into life. Therefore, a fertilized egg that has not implanted is difficult to view as life.
For the reasons above, the birth of the cloned sheep Dolly did not result in the innocent sacrifice of 276 lives to create a single life. This is because the fertilized egg itself is difficult to regard as a single life. To argue that Dolly’s birth violated bioethics, one would need to definitively prove that a fertilized egg is a life, or find other evidence demonstrating that Dolly’s birth resulted from the innocent sacrifice of other lives.
Earlier, we discussed the somatic cell cloning method used to create Dolly and whether a fertilized egg can be considered a life. The basis for viewing an unfertilized egg as difficult to regard as a life can be found in the criteria most countries use to restrict embryo cloning. The basis for viewing an unfertilized egg as difficult to regard as a life can be found in the definition of pregnancy. Therefore, it is difficult to view the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep as an act that desecrates life. If the birth of the cloned sheep Dolly were an act of desecrating life, then embryonic cell cloning research should not be conducted at all, and fertilized eggs should be able to grow into fetuses by receiving nutrients from the mother immediately after fertilization. The somatic cell cloning technology used to create Dolly cannot be considered an act that desecrates life or puts it at risk.
