Following the successful cloning of an adult sheep by scientists in Scotland, University researchers are heralding the new technology as a magnificent scientific accomplishment that has the potential to benefit humans in many areas, including medicine and animal agriculture.
"Obviously it can assist humans in terms of the ability to clone other species beneficial to us," said Patricia Saling, associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology and cell biology.
For example, said Joe Heitman, assistant professor in the department of genetics and pharmacology, it would be commercially useful to clone cows that produce unusually large quantities of quality milk. He added that genetically engineered animals that produce proteins such as insulin would also prove useful to humans.
Saling, Heitman and Bryan Cullen, professor of genetics, each said that techniques of reproducing likable characteristics have been practiced for centuries through breeding and inbreeding. Cloning, Cullen said, "is the extreme example of inbreeding."
Cloning livestock or any other species, however, could produce an organism with desired as well as unwanted characteristics. For example, Saling said, if cows with superior beef were cloned there is no method of ensuring that those cows will not also have a low resistance to disease.
Heitman also said that cloning can result in maladaptive features. "It is always a trade-off," he said. "You select from the traits you want but you'll always get other traits."
Still another drawback of cloning, he said, is that it fails to contribute to the maintenance of a large genetic pool, which helps to ensure genotypic variety as well as resistance to many diseases. "There are a lot of good things about sex," he said. "It makes good sense to change the population."
Heitman added that there are currently genetic clones in the human population-such as identical twins. Still, he said, despite the fact that such twins are an exact genetic replica of each other, they often have different personalities and their brain structure is different. There are other factors, he explained, besides just the DNA sequence that influence personal characteristics.
The probability of human cloning ever occurring remains in debate among researchers. "I think down the line you'll see human cloning but not in a western country," Cullen said.
Other scientists disagreed, however, arguing that human cloning anywhere is an unlikely possibility. "I don't think anyone has thought of or would consider cloning humans," Saling said, adding that the idea of mass cloning humans is appealing to science-fiction writers, but few others.
Although not quite as dramatic, the recent developments do raise a number of ethical questions and researchers agreed that the potential for abuse of this new technology certainly exists. "Everything in science can be abused," Heitman said. "What if you cloned 15 Bill Clintons? That might be a good thing. What if you cloned 15 Saddam Husseins? That might be a bad thing. I don't think people are going to be so egotistical as to go around recreating themselves."
Cullen said he agreed that the new techniques could be easily misused if ethical considerations are ignored. "Technology isn't inherently good or bad," he said. "It's what we do with this [technology]."
Even if extreme situations are ruled out, the simple notion of cloning humans-regardless of how the power is used-is susceptible to ethical scrutiny.
"Do you believe it is intrinsically evil to make copies of human beings?" Cullen asked, but added that his personal views are irrelevant. "It's up to society to decide what to do.... What will drive this [technology] is a combination of societal pressures and financial pressures."
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