MadSci Network: Genetics
Query:

Re: What government policy should be established to regulate cloning?

Date: Fri Aug 11 17:36:32 2000
Posted By: Amanda Kahn, Grad student, neuroscience, UCSF
Area of science: Genetics
ID: 954437131.Ge
Message:

Hi Jennifer!

There has been a lot of discussion of this very topic on the MAD Scientist Network, so one good place to look for different peoples' opinions would be in the madsci archives. To get there, use this link: http://www.madsci.org/MS_search.html
You can put in any keyword, such as "cloning," and pore over the articles that come up. Different people, including scientists, have varying opinions on this topic -- I'll put in my 2 cents below.

"Cloning" has different meanings, depending on whether you're talking about duplicating a bit of DNA, or an entire person.

In my day-to-day life in lab, we routinely "clone" pieces of DNA from bacteria and other small organisms -- meaning that we identify a piece of DNA that encodes an interesting gene from the animal I work on (a small soil worm), then use "scissors" called restriction enzymes and "glue" called ligase to cut n' paste that DNA into a bacterial DNA loop called a "vector." By re-introducing that hybrid worm-bacterial DNA (now called a plasmid) back into bacteria, I can grow up lots and lots of copies of my interesting gene. I can then use other molecular biology techniques to read the DNA sequence, or find out where in the animal the gene is expressed, or find out which other genes interact with the gene I cloned ... the possibilities are pretty endless.

To a molecular biologist, what I described above sounds routine. It's a great way of figuring out DNA sequences (what led to the recent completion fo the draft human genome), or expressing beneficial proteins, or discovering how cells actually work. In the early days of cloning, scientists had meetings where they wrote their own guidelines for regulating the use of this new technology.

But to some people outside of science, it sounds like Frankenstein -- putting worm DNA (or mouse, fly, yeast, mustard-weed plant, or other species) into bacteria?!?! There is concern -- some of it justified, and some of it less well-founded, in my opinion -- about the dangers of using these sorts of techniques to modify organisms (including foods). For instance, scientists have introduced genes into plants in order to modify their susceptibility to parasites, or to alter their shelf life, or to improve their vitamin content. Some people are concerned about eating these "genetically modified" crops, or about their potential impact on the environment. Other people look at these changes as yet another form of breeding, which people have done with crops and livestock for thousands of years.

Recently, scientists have developed methods for cloning the total DNA content of entire organisms, such as Dolly the sheep and Cumulina the mouse. This technology holds great promise for the propagation of animals which could be medically/scientifically beneficial, or which could result in improved food yield. This technology also carries the threat of being misappropriated for unethical (or ethically questionable) uses, such as the propagation of humans/human tissue for research.

Here are some recent, reliable articles about cloning technology:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/news/march97.html
http://www.sciam.com/explorations/030397clone/030397beards.html
http://www.sciam.com/1998/1298issue/1298wilmut.html
http://www.sciam.com/explorations/1998/072798clone/index.html

There is widespread belief in the scientific community (and in society at large) that cloning of humans is wrong. It may be something that we are technologically capable of doing one day, but the ethical consequences of creating new human life this way are too much to bear. There are some, however, who believe that fears about this technology are unjustified. At present, the use of cloning technology to produce humans is PROHIBITED. To see what the National Bioethics Advisory Commission has said about cloning, folow this link: http://bioethics.gov/pubs.html

There is less consensus about the use of cloning technology to modify/clone laboratory organisms and animals/plants that we use for food. Much of the debate centers around whether genetically modified foods should be labeled, so that consumers who think these products are "risky" or "unnatural" can avoid them -- or so that people who think these products are superior to unmodified foods can seek them out. It will be interesting to see how this ongoing debate sorts itself out.

In my humble opinion, products that are destined for consumer markets could benefit from labeling, simply so that consumers can make an informed choice about which foods, etc. to buy. If people want to spend their money on organic, farm-raised, or genetically-modified foods, that should be their choice. BUT, I think it is important for people to LEARN and UNDERSTAND what the labels mean, and what the associated risks/rewards of buying a product are. That's just being a smart shopper.

As for "scientific" cloning, I have faith that the scientific community can develop its own set of guidelines, and that a top-down governmental approach would be unnecessary. In the past, scientists working at the cutting edge of technology have paused, met together, and come up with their own regulations. At this point in time, scientists and politicians can and have joined together to discuss the limits and ethical issues surrounding cloning. Both scientific journals and newspapers have covered the progress of these discussions.

For more details on cloning, a website that does a balanced, comprehensive view of cloning can be found here: http:/library.thinkquest.org/24355/home.html

Hope this helps! There's a LOT of information about cloning out there -- some of it reliable, some of it questionable. For good links, try going to the MadSci library page http://www.madsci.org/libs/ or two of my favorite science sites: http://www.exploratorium.edu

http://www.fi.edu

happy hunting!

Amanda Kahn


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