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Catholic World News News Feature

Cloning doctor asks for ova donations for experiments July 27, 2005

Despite previous admissions that cloning human beings is a near-impossibility, British researcher Ian Wilmut is moving forward in his plans to create cloned humans for use as research subjects. Wilmut, who made his name as the creator of Dolly the first cloned sheep to survive to adulthood, has asked the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority for permission to advertise for women to donate their ova for use in the experiments.

One part of the tangle of ethical objections to human cloning is the dismal rate of failure of the individual attempts to produce a viable embryo. Dolly was the success story that followed 277 failed attempts. Wilmut told the Guardian newspaper that he feels confident that women will come forward because of his intention to use the research to find a cure for motor neurone disease. "Our hope and belief is that women who have seen the devastating effect of this disease will be prepared to make such a donation."

Responsible ethicists have pointed out that for human cloning to move forward, thousands of human ova will have to be obtained. Many have voiced concerns that economically disadvantaged women and those in developing countries will come under pressure to donate ova in exchange for money.

In 2003, Wilmut was granted a license to proceed with attempts to create human clones under the British cloning legislation that has been described by pro-lifers as one of the world's most lenient. In 2001, Wilmut admitted that efforts to clone human beings were likely to fail. Despite this, he petitioned for and was granted a license to proceed with the experiments under the title "therapeutic cloning."

The decision may appear to be self-contradictory, but advocates of human cloning for experimental research commonly maintain that cloning human beings and cloning human embryos are qualitatively different activities. The fact remains however that reproductive cloning allows cloned human embryos to live until birth and beyond whereas therapeutic cloning requires that cloned human embryos be killed for experimentation prior to birth.