Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Human Cloning - Nature Or Nurture?

Human cloning (HC) may become a valuable tool in the arsenal of assisted reproductive techniques (ART). At present ART includes in vitro fertilization and preimplantation genetic diagnosis, methods which enable infertile couples to have children and facilitate the birth of children who are freed from the possibility of developing specific genetic diseases.

HC will enhance this repertoire of assisted reproduction, making it possible for couples, both of whom are infertile, to have children genetically related to one of the parents. HC will make possible the birth of a child who is a close histocompatible match for a sibling or parent who is dying of a terminal, but treatable illness. And, HC will make possible the birth of a child who is genetically identical to a parent or sibling killed in an accident. These are all compelling justifications for permitting HC research.

HC will also facilitate births that are prompted by motives somewhat less altruistic than those mentioned above. Certain parents may strongly desire to have a child with very specific physical characteristics, skill sets, and abilities. A parent might wish to clone herself because she believes her precise instantiation of the human genome is a superior combination. Or parents might wish to clone a known genome in the expectation of having a child with a similar future. Such parents would clone a professional basketball star or a beautiful and graceful film actress hoping to raise a child with similar prospects in life.

But these latter reasons for cloning are fatally flawed. The clone is a nearly identical genetic copy of the individual from whom he is cloned. This fact does not imply, however, that the expression of those genes will turn out to be the same. Genetic expression, i.e., which genes are turned on and which are turned off at specific times and for specific durations, is highly variable and depends on many factors both known and unknown. All the elements of an individual's environment, including nutrition, physical activity, interpersonal relations, stresses, and rest, contribute to moment-by-moment gene expression. We can understand this clearly when we consider identical twins. These siblings are unique individuals with unique interests and abilities, and children who are clones will assuredly develop into persons demonstrably distinct from their genetic twins.

One's genetic inheritance is merely the starting point in human development and experience. Nature (genetic inheritance) most strongly relates to a person's physical characteristics - for example, height, weight, hair and eye color, and tendencies to acquire or develop diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and certain cancers. Who a person becomes - her interests, abilities, and qualities - are much better understood as the result of nurture. And nurture is best understood as the mechanism by which genes are expressed. The person that the child who is a clone becomes is the product of both genetic inheritance and gene expression - nature and nurture. And in this, he is exactly the same as any child created via the standard method of sexual reproduction.

David Lemberg, M.S. in Bioethics, Albany Medical College, May 2010
Consultant, Author, Speaker. Research interests - health care and health care policy, reproductive technologies, genetics and genomics, K-12 science education
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