On February 22, 1997, Dr. Ian Wilmut, the
52-year old embryologist astonished the world by announcing that he had created
the first animal cloned from an adult-a lamb named Dolly. By scrapping a few
cells from the udder of a 6-year-old ewe, then fusing them into a specially altered
egg cell from another sheep, Dr. Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin
Institute in Midlothian which is seven miles from Edinburgh , Scotland
On March 14, 1997, President
Clinton declared "the creation of life is a miracle that reaches beyond
laboratory science" and he barred spending federal money on human cloning.
He also urged a halt in private research until the ethical impact is better
understood. Clinton Clinton
Clinton asked private
research workers-who are not covered by his directive-to voluntarily keep off
at least until the National Bioethics Advisory Commission can study the matter.
Others were afraid that a permanent ban could thwart vital research on how
genes are turned on and off inside human cells, a key factor in finding a cure
for cancer or some birth defects or unlock the secrets to diseases. Clinton
History
1938: Cloning conceived
The idea of cloning had
enticed scientists since 1938. When no one knew what genetic material was or
consisted of, the first modern embryologist, Dr. Hans Spemann of Germany
1952: First cloning
experiment with frogs
The size of the eggs in the
frogs are enormous compared with those of mammals, making them far easier to
manipulate. Robert Briggs and T.J. King used a pipette to suck the nucleus from
the cell of an advanced frog embryo and added it to a frog egg. It did not
develop.
1970: Another experiment
yields better results
John Gurdon who is now a
faculty member at Cambridge
University
1981: Cloning of mice
Dr.Karl Illmense of the
University of Geneva and Dr. Peter Hoppe of the Jackson Laboratory in Bar
Harbor, Maine, claimed that they had transplanted the nuclei of mouse embryo
cells into mouse eggs and produced three live mice that were clones of the
embryos. Their mice were on the cover of the prestigious journal Science, and
their research generated a lot of excitement. After a lengthy inquiry, it was
discovered that Dr. Illmensee had faked his results.
1982: Research delayed
Dr. James McGrath and Dr.
Davor Solter, working at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, reported in
Science journal that they could not repeat the mouse-cloning experiment and
concluded that once mouse embryos have reached the two-cell stage they cannot
be used for cloning. Other investigators confirmed their findings.
1984: First embryo cloning
of sheep
Steen Willadsen reported
that he cloned a live lamb from immature sheep embryo cells. Others later
reproduced his experiment using a variety of animals, including cattle, pigs,
goats, rabbits, and rhesus monkeys.
1994: Cloning of more
advanced embryo cells
Dr. Neal First of the University of Wisconsin
at Madison
1996: Foundation laid for
cloning of adult sheep
Dr. Ian Wilmut of Roslin
Institute, Roslin, Midlothian in Scotland ,
United Kingdom
1997: World's first adult
sheep are cloned
Ian Wilmut, A.E. Schnieke,
J. McWhir, A.J. Kind and K.H.S. Campbell reported that they had cloned a
6-year-old adult sheep from an udder (mammary) cell in the world's most
prestigious scientific journal, Nature of 27 February 1997(Vol.385,
pp.810-813).
TECHNIQUE OF CLONING:
The source of DNA (cell
nucleus). A mammary cell is removed from the udder of a 6-year-old sheep (ewe)
and cultured in a solution that starves it of nutrients to stop its
development. Cells are constantly copying their own DNA and dividing.
Researchers had to stop the donor cell from replicating its DNA.
A donor sheep is injected
with hormones to release eggs (source of host egg cell). The unfertilized egg's
nucleus, and thus its DNA, is removed, eliminating all genetic characteristics
of the egg donor. What is in the nucleus? The nucleus contain the chromosomes
(27 pairs in sheep and 23 pairs in humans) consisting of proteins and DNA, the
genetic material that makes each individual unique.
The Cell and Egg are Fused
and Activated
The cell (mammary) which is
the source of DNA is inserted inside the covering around the egg cell (of donor
sheep).
An electrical charge is
applied to the two cells causing their pores to open, and the contents of the
mammary cell to ooze into the egg. The electrical charge also tricks the egg
into believing that it has been fertilized so it starts to divide. Of the 277
cells that were fused only 30 began to develop. It begins to develop like a
normal embryo. The cell begins to divide over and over again. Each cell is identical
to the original. When the embryo reaches, or is about to reach, the blastocyst
stage, and the cells form a hollow ball (blastocyst) before they begin to
differentiate or specialize.
After 6 days, the tiny
embryos (29 of them) are implanted into the surrogate mother sheep (more that
one embryo was implanted into a single sheep). Using ultrasound scans the
surrogate sheep were monitored to confirm the pregnancy and monitor the
development of the fetus once a month in the beginning and every two weeks
later on. Out of 29 implanted, only one sheep gave birth to a lamb, which is
genetically identical to the cell-donor (6-year-old ewe). This was named Dolly
in honor of country singer Dolly Parton, whose mammary cells, Dr. Wilmut said,
are equally famous. Dolly was born on July 5, 1996 at 4 P.M. It was a normal
birth, head and forelegs first. She weighed 6.6 kilograms or about 14.5 pounds,
and she was healthy.
Cloning of Humans:
After this exciting news
many people all over the world believed that the cloning of humans is coming.
The ethical, moral and theological frameworks of our society will be
drastically affected, challenged and, at times, perhaps even devalued. We need
to shape the policies and politics that will govern this remarkable technology.
People who favor the cloning
of humans argue that the knowledge of nuclear physics lead to the creation of
the atomic and hydrogen bombs and at the same time the application of radiation
and radionuclides in industry, medicine, agriculture, animal husbandry, etc.
brought enormous benefits to mankind. In the late 1980s the United States
The benefits to mankind of
cloning and genetic engineering are immeasurable- the creation of farm animals
engineered to produce a specific drugs. A good example is three Roslin
scientists had just produced the first genetically engineered sheep that
secrete a human pharmaceutical protein in its milk, a protein called alpha-1
antitrypsin, or ATT, which could be helpful in relieving the symptoms of cystic
fibrosis. One can foresee animal clones that will be miniature drug factories,
making drugs like the blood clotting factor for treating hemophilia that are
now extraordinarily expensive. Another example is the production of "humanized
organs". Scientists envision the cloning of animals whose organs are
coated with human proteins so they can be used for transplants into patients,
without rejection by the immune system. Alexion Pharmaceuticals, a New
Haven-based Company and Nextran, a Princeton-based unit of Baxter Healthcare
are developing transgenic pigs to serve as organ donors. It is postulated that
using cells from organs, organs such as heart, arteries, liver can be grown.
They also predict that cloning will lead to herds of prize livestock, like cows
that produce enormous quantities of milk. Cloning technology could help control
the protein thought to cause "mad cow disease" and its human analog,
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
One can also look into
prevention of parent-child disease transmission. Cloning a child for infertile
couples becomes a necessity. If this is acceptable, then the next extension is
the creation of a clone of a child who was lost in a tragic accident. When
people asked Dr. Wilmut "Does cloning means that if a child dies, you can
get that child back?" he replied, "It's heart-wrenching. You could
never get that child back. It would be something different. You need to
understand the biology. People are not genes. They are so much more than that."
Economic pressures and
yearning for knowledge are too potent to quell scientists' desires to conquer
the unknown. The senators in the U.S. Congress argue that the discovery of the
unknown is helpful to us. On the other hand the fear may stop the research
which otherwise would have great benefits in the fields of medicine,
agriculture, animals husbandry, etc. Now cloning is no more science fiction, it
is a scientific fact. On March 12, 1997, scientists and ethicists testifying
before the Senate Labor Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety "on
cloning" urged Congress not to rush to ban research on cloning of human
beings.
A House Republican
introduced legislation to ban human cloning and President Clinton is urging
people to "resist the temptation to replicate ourselves." Pollsters
for Time Magazine asked people, if they had the chance, would they clone
themselves? Seven percent said yes, 91 percent said no. When asked whether it
is against God's will to clone humans, 74 percent replied yes, whereas 19
percent said no. ABC News asked people whether cloning of humans should be
allowed. Ten percent said yes, 87 percent said no. Eighty two percent replied
that human cloning would be morally wrong; 14 percent said it would be fine
with them.
A Maricopa Research survey
found that 41 percent think humans will be cloned within 10 years, whatever the
law says; 33 percent said they would not. The respondents picked the following
persons in descending order for cloning: Mother Theresa (21 %); Billy Graham
(19 %); Michelle Pfeiffer (7.7%); Michael Jordon (7.2%); Robert Redford (4 %);
Bill Gates (3.9%); Bill Clinton (3.7%), and Hillary Rodham Clinton (2.3
percent). Forty-one percent rated very or somewhat likely to clone ancient
genetic material and reproduce, dinosaurs, while 56 percent thought there
wasn't much chance.
Opposing Points
Those who oppose cloning
argue that Wilmut tried to clone DNA from 277 sheep in all-and only one took.
Until his feat is replicated, some experts caution, no one can be sure his
technique really works. And even if sheep can be reliably cloned, the technique
may not work in humans because of peculiarities of our embryonic development.
Science has made little or no headway in crucial areas of research, and some of
its reputed advances have proved to be illusory.
The media heralded the
discovery of genes for schizophrenia, manic depression, alcoholism, novelty
seeking and homosexuality. Scientists have failed to corroborate the initial
claims about gay genes. The public is left with a false impression of
inexorable scientific progress. However, genuine progress has been made in
finding genes associated with certain diseases, such as Huntington's chorea,
cystic fibrosis, Lou Gehrig's disease and early-on-set breast cancer. Cancer
research poses a similar paradox. Since 1971 the U.S.
ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Some Muslim scholars think
that it is impossible to clone a human being. Because the human being is
different from all of God's creations in that the human being has a soul. The
argument is since science cannot clone a soul, a human being cannot be cloned.
Looking at the past history of science, it is possible to clone a human being in
our lifetime. A clone is like a photocopy of the original or an identical twin
that is much younger in age. If an identical twin has a soul, then a human
clone will also have a soul. A clone cannot be grown in a laboratory but in a
surrogate mother's womb. The surrogate mother provides all the nutrients for
the cloned cell to grow to become an embryo, a fetus and then after delivery a
human child, just like the lamb Dolly. The only difference between a normal
child and a clone child is in the genes. The normal child has 23 chromosomes
from the mother and 23 chromosomes from the father or 23 pairs in every cell of
the body except the germ cells or gametes (sperm or ova). The clone child will
have 23 pairs of chromosomes of one parent.
AQEEDA (Muslim Creed)
The principal points of the
Muslim Creed are Belief in Allah (the God); God's Angels, God's Messengers,
God's Books, Belief in life after death (Aakhira); the Day of Resurrection
(Qiyamah) and Qadr.
The fifth point in Muslim
creed is to believe in life after death; to believe in the Day of Resurrection.
This is the most important article of faith in Islam. It is in fact, the basis
upon which Islam builds its whole philosophy of Life. A person cannot be a
Muslim until after he/she accepts this principle. The advent of resurrection or
Qiyamah is more frequently mentioned in the Noble Qur'an than any other
happening. On the day of Qiyamah, all human beings will be resurrected and will
have to pass through God's judgement on their actions during this ephemeral
life on earth. All this is vividly described in the Noble Qur'an. The word,
Qiyaamah, occurs 68 times in the Qur'an. The Qur'an argues resurrection is
rationally possible.
O mankind! if ye have a
doubt about the Resurrection(consider) that We created you out of dust then out
of sperm then out of a leech-like clot then out of a morsel of flesh partly
formed and partly unformed in order that We may manifest (Our Power) to you;
And We cause whom We will to rest in the wombs for an appointed term then do We
bring you out as babes then(foster you) that ye may reach your age of full
strength; and some of you are called to die and some are sent back to the
feeblest old age so that they know nothing after having known(much). And
(further) thou seest the earth barren and lifeless but when We pour down rain
on it, it is stirred (to life) it swells and it puts forth every kind of
beautiful growth (in pairs).
Surah 22.Al-Hajj:
5(verse)
Commenting on this verse,
Allama Yusuf Ali says "If they really have doubts in their minds about the
life after death, they have only to turn their attention either to their own
nature, or to the nature around. How wonderful is their own physical growth,
from lifeless matter, to seed, fertilized ovum, foetus, chid, youth, age, and
death! How can they doubt that the Author of all these wonderful stages in
their life here can also give them another kind of life after the end of this
life? Or, if they look at external nature, they see the earth dead and barren
and Allah's fertilizing showers bring it in to life, growth and beauty in
various forms. The Creator of this great pageant of Beauty can surely create
yet another and a newer world. The stages of man's physical growth from nothing
till he completes the cycle of this life are described in words whose accuracy,
beauty, and comprehensiveness can only be fully understood by biologists.
Parallel to the physical growth, may be understood man's inner growth, also by
stages and by Allah's creative artistry."
The Noble Prophet (SAS) has
said the following in one of his moving sermons thus:
I swear by Allah that all of
you will certainly die, just as you go to sleep at night. Then surely you will
all be raised again as you wake up in the morning. Then you will definitely be
judged for the deeds you had been doing. You will get rewards for good deeds
and punishment for the evil ones; it will either be the everlasting life of Paradise or the endless torment of Hell-fire. (Cf.Sermons
of the Holy Prophet, reproduced in Nahajul Balagha).
To the Quresh, the concept
of Aakhira and Qiyamah were way above their heads.
One may ask why Allah should
not be able to recreate the form of man, which came into being out of scattered
particles of clay and was then again turned into earth.
The Qur'an makes repeated
references to this matter, saying for example: "We created you from earth
and return you to earth and then bring you forth it once more."
(20:55)
In this verse, our attention
is drawn to the creative power of the Creator. Through the presentation of the
past and future of man in this world and the Hereafter in a single panorama,
solace and assurance are given to man's unquiet and skeptical soul.
The dismayed people who
imagine that the body of man disintegrates as a result of chemical and
microbial actions within the soil and that it cannot be restored to life, to
them the Qur'an says: "The unbelievers say: Is this not strange that we
should be brought back after dying and turning to dust? Such a return is impossible.
But We are fully aware of what the earth takes from them and it is We Who
possess the Preserved Tablet." (50:2-4)
This verse refers, then, to
a group of unbelievers who deny the resurrection of the dead. It reminds them
that Allah knows full well where the elements are that once made up their
bodies before being dispersed and returned to the storehouse of nature. He will
reassemble those elements on the plain of resurrection, thus reconstructing the
body in a way the unbelievers thought impossible. This reconstruction will
follow entirely the structure and contents of the body as it previously existed
and be based entirely upon it.
THE CONVINCING LOGIC OF THE
QUR'AN.
When the Prophet of Islam
(SAS) expounded the topic of Qiyamah (resurrection) to the pagan Arabs, a
Bedouin named Ubayy bin Khalaf (who was cursed by the Prophet (S) for putting
the intestines of a camel on the back of the Prophet (S). He was killed in the
battle of Badr and his body parts were mutilated but he was not thrown in the
well. Sahih Bukhari Hadith 5.193) picked up a decayed bone and set out for
Madinah to visit the Prophet (SAS). In the hope of refuting the arguments of
the Prophet and the logic of the Qur'an on which they were based, he raised up
the bone, as if it were a valuable and convincing piece of evidence, and
crumbled it to dust, scattering the pieces in the air. Then he addressed the
Prophet Muhammad (SAS) these crude, unadorned words inspired by his
rebelliousness and ignorance: "Who will restore to life the scattered
particles of this rotten bone?" He believed that he would thus be able to
refute the arguments of the Prophet (SAS) and to destroy the belief of others
in resurrection of the dead. His ignorant mode of thought prevented him from
having any correct notion of the creation of being so that he imagined that the
scattered particles of a decayed bone could not possibly be brought back to
life. He adamantly maintained that the reassembling of the countless particles
of the body was unacceptable to man's reason.
The Noble Qur'an replied
with this persuading argument based on convincing logic: "(O Messenger)
say: "Who first brought them to life will restore them to life. He has
knowledge of all His creation. . Is the Creator Who brought into being the heavens
and the earth, incapable of creating the like thereof? Certainly He is the
Creator and All-Knowing." (36:79-81)
The Qur'an invites man to
contemplate the whole vast structure of creation together with the innumerable
phenomena and minutiae it contains, using his wisdom and intelligence which are
his means for recognizing the principles underlying the universe. Thus cloning
enables man to realize that the restoration of life to man through resurrection
is not more difficult than the initial creation out of a mass of different
materials that were compounded together.
Man may well ask himself how
the breath of life may be infused anew into the particles of his body once they
have been scattered in the recesses of the earth, and how lifeless matter may
be brought back to life although its constituent elements have been dispersed.
But the dispersal does not result in their permanent alienation from each
other, and the human intellect can well understand that the infinite and
eternal creative power of God has no difficulty whatsoever in compounding
afresh those scattered elements so that they begin pulsating with life anew.
The Noble Qur'an reminds man of Allah's unlimited power to restore all the
minute qualities and precise details of man's limbs with the following words:
"Does man imagine that We are not capable of reassembling his decayed
bones? We are able even to restore his fingers to their previous state."
(75:3-4).
In this verse Allah selects
to mention out of all the marvels of man's composition the lines in his fingers
as an example of His power. In the whole world, two people cannot be found with
exactly identical fingerprints. This unique quality of fingerprints, first
indicated in the Qur'an remained unknown until their discovery by British
scientists in 1884.
Cloning of humans is neither
forbidden in the Qur'an nor in the Hadith. The Shariah including Qiyas and Ijma
are silent on this topic. Hence the cloning of humans has to be addressed
through Ijtihad. As long as cloning of humans does not violate the commands of
Allah (SWT) and as long as cloning of humans is for the benefit of mankind, the
Muslims should welcome this technology. This scientific accomplishment is in
itself an indication of the reality of resurrection; it provides a method,
which joined together with reflection, may permit us to understand Qiyamah
(resurrection) and prove it scientifically.
CONCLUSION (LAST PART)
The word "clone"
was originally a horticultural term derived from the Greek word for
"twig." The laboratory technique that produced the lamb
"Dolly", can theoretically work for producing human beings as clones.
Cloning of human beings has been shown in Hollywood
movies such as "THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL" and "MULTICIPLITY."
The possibility of cloning of human beings appears to be attainable. It is
giving the excitement to many both in the scientific establishment as well as
the general public that science fiction will come to life. If misused this
science fiction can turn scary.The public is very concerned about these
prospects. Cloning is a drastic demand to the most fundamental laws of biology.
Hence it is reasonable for the public to be concerned about the future that
might intimidate human nobility and decorum.
Because of the potential of
mind-boggling possibilities the governments are formulating guidelines for the
unknown future of human cloning. As a drastic step the Vatican Vatican document, condemned cloning because it violates
"the dignity both of human procreation and of the conjugal union." In
the United States Europe
already prohibit human cloning. However they are examining the moral
implications of cloning other species.
The creation of Dolly has
produced a long list of difficult dilemmas for scientists and politicians,
philosophers and theologians. First of all why would anybody want to clone a
human being? The ethicists pondering over human cloning scenarios say the
choice is of two types: (a) parents who want to clone a child, do it in order
to provide transplants for a dying child or to replace that child, and (b)
adults who for a conglomeration of reasons might want to clone themselves.
Many ethicists believe that
after the initial phase of excitement, there will not be much pursuit in
cloning human beings. Making duplicates, they say, shallows next to the marvel
of creating an original human being the conventional way. An Academic
Bioethicist argues that a couple who want to clone a dying child will never
diminish their love for the cloned child nor will they reject the cloned child.
They will treat the cloned child as if it is naturally born. Most experts agree
that it would be psychologically harmful if a child sensed he or she had been
brought into the world simply as a commodity (organ donor). Recently some
couples conceived a second child with nonfatal bone marrow transplant in mind.
Many ethicists did not oppose to this. In this case the biological match is 1
in 4 or 25 per cent, whereas the biological match in the case of cloned child
for nonfatal bone marrow transplant is 100 percent. However, as mentioned
earlier there is no need to clone a child for organ transplants, because
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. located in Connecticut
Infertile couples may be
tempted to get children by cloning. However such couples have other options,
such as in vitro fertilization or adoption. However their wish to clone a child
cannot be denied ethically.
People are interested to
know if cloning of the dead is possible. In the cloning method an immature egg
cell without its nucleus(containing the genetic material ) is fused with the
donor's(dead person) cell containing the nucleus
which has the genetic
material called the DNA. It is important that the donor cell have an intact
membrane around its DNA. Unfortunately, as soon as a person dies the membrane
begins to fall apart. And also the DNA disintegrates after death of a person.
In theory it is possible.
Many people want to know if
a cloned human being be indistinguishable from the prototype (original). People
who are familiar with identical twins know that identical genes (carry
hereditary material) don't produce identical people. Twins are more akin than
clones would be, because they share the same uterine environment, and they are
raised in the same family. However the present evidence suggests the clones
will have very dissimilar personalities. John Rennie, Editor in Chief of the
Scientific American in his editorial in the May 1997 issue says, it would
be..."wrong to expect human clones to match up in the infinite variety of
personal characteristics. Second, cloning is not yet a technology ready for use
on human cells... Yet rushing to human experiments could be tragic. Finally,
even when cloning of humans is safe, it isn't necessarily going to be popular.
Cloning won't replace the old style of reproduction: it's not as much fun, and
it's a lot more expensive.
Cloning commercially
valuable animals makes perfect economic sense-it is a potentially surer thing
than breeding." Biologists testify that a clone would not be identical to
the "master copy." For example, they say that the clone's cells would
have mitochondria (energy producing organelle in the cell) that came from the
egg donor, not from the nucleus donor (the cell from the subject to be cloned).
A molecular-biology laboratory would be able to detect most of the physical
differences between the original (master copy) and the clones (copies). The one
possible deviation is fecundity. The scientists that created Dolly the lamb
clone think it will be infertile. The answer to this will be known when Dolly
matures and is old enough to breed. Scientists do not know whether the clone
lives longer than the original human.
ORGANIZED RELIGION
Many ethical questions that
are raised regarding cloning are based in theology. The interest for conserving
human decorum and personal sovereignty for instance is intensely based on
religious and scriptural tenets. Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish
theologians are warning against applying the new cloning technology to humans.
For the Catholics the "natural moral law" prohibits tampering with
human procreation. Although the Protestants support using technology to mend
defects in nature, they object to human cloning as it traverses the border.
They are afraid of placing too much power in the hands of immoral human beings
who are subject to accomplishing "horrific abuses." Judaism also
tends to favor using technology to ameliorate on nature's defects. However
cloning is prohibited as it violates the enigma of what it means to be human.
The Judeo-Christian theologians are worried that cloning infringes on God as
the originator of life. Some theologians argue that cloning is not the same as
creating life from scrape. The components used in cloning are alive or contain
the ingredients of life. The physical mixing and manipulation of ingredients of
life is called Khaliq in Arabic. It is still only God Who is Bari
Most of the theologians
agree with scientists that the human clone would have his or her own body, mind
and soul. Also the human clone dies as the original human. Valiant Ventures
located in the Bahamas Islands in the Caribbean
announced that it would build a laboratory to clone people willing to pay. The
company was founded for the purpose by the Raelian Movement, a self-styled
religious organization. At present, producing healthy human clones may
demonstrate to be unduly hard. North American Islamic Scholars opine that Islam
does not prohibit research and research related to human cloning does not
interfere with God's power of creating living and non-living things out of
nothing. Human cloning is a methodology to understand human creation in some
more depth. However, Islam proscribes misuse of cloning research that destroys
human dignity.
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