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Cloning and genetic determinism—a call for consistency

Nature Biotechnology volume 19, page 403 (2001)Cite this article

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From a “free love” cult in Quebec wanting to use cloning to reproduce its members to an international research consortium that claims it is ready to proceed with privately financed cloning experiments, we have heard a great deal about human reproductive cloning in the past few months1,2. Currently, many countries, such as Canada and the United States, still do not have laws that specifically regulate cloning. However, the recent flurry of stories has heightened the call for regulatory oversightb3. Indeed, many, if not most, policymakers have suggested that human cloning should be criminally prohibited. In Canada, for example, the federal government is poised to introduce a new federal law that is likely to criminally prohibit human cloning.

There are, no doubt, profound ethical concerns associated with human cloning experiments as well as innumerable safety and health uncertainties. Would human clones be more susceptible to disease? Would the fact that clones possess “older” genetic material mean that they would age more quickly? How could cloning research ever be conducted in an ethically sound manner? Recent reports have noted several heath and developomental anomalies in animal clones produced by nuclear transfer. These are credible concerns and, as such, it seems entirely appropriate to tightly regulate cloning. In fact, at the current time, a moratorium on all human reproductive cloning would be a sensible course of action.

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  1. associate professor, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, and research director, Health Law Institute, University of Alberta, 461 Law Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2H5, Canada

    Timothy Caulfield

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  1. Timothy Caulfield
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Caulfield, T. Cloning and genetic determinism—a call for consistency. Nat Biotechnol 19, 403 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/88047

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