The Future of Human Cloning

6 min readAug 30, 2022

Introduction

In 1996, the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell was born. Named Dolly after the famous singer Dolly Parton, this sheep made headlines around the world when it was announced the following year, by demonstrating that a cloned organism could be produced from a mature cell from a specific body part, in this case, a mammary gland. Since Dolly, many other mammals including goats, rabbits, cats, and primates have been cloned. However, nearly 30 years later, no human clones have even been attempted. Today, we will discuss why, and what the future holds for human cloning.

Dolly with Professor Sir Ian Wilmut, who led the research which produced her. Photo courtesy of the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, UK

The Current State of Affairs

Human cloning has been a fixture of science fiction for decades, as early as Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World. However, despite its popularity in film, television, and video games, it’s not been popular at all with lawmakers. As of 2018, around 70 nations have outright banned human cloning. In the United States, despite there not being a federal ban on it, 15 states ban reproductive cloning, and 10 states prevent cloned human embryos to be implanted for childbirth.

Over the years, there have been several people who claimed to have successfully cloned humans. One of the most infamous was from a religious group called the Raëlians, who have a core belief that human beings were created by extraterrestrials thousands of years ago using advanced technology. Soon after the unveiling of Dolly, the Raëlians established Clonaid, to fund the research and development of human cloning. After moving their base of operations from the US to the Bahamas, on the 26th of December, 2002, a team led by French chemist Brigitte Boisselier announced that the first successfully cloned human, named Eve, had been born a day before.

By 2004, Clonaid claimed that they had created 14 human clones. However, since they refused to allow for independent testing for any of the babies, their claims were unsubstantiated and dismissed. That same year, a South Korean scientist by the name of Hwang Woo Suk reported that he and his team had successfully cloned human embryos and derived stem cell lines from two of them. However, by 2005, it was apparent that all of his claims were entirely fraudulent.

Fortunately, a few years passed, and in 2013, a team led by biologist Shoukhrat Mitalipov at Oregon State Health University successfully created cloned human embryos, from embryonic cells, and made two human embryonic stem cell lines from those cloned embryos. While the Mitalipov team didn’t implant these embryos inside a female human, other teams did something similar a few years later. In 2018, a team in China led by Qiang Sun and Zhen Liu reported the first births created from cloned monkey embryos. The two monkey clones were the result of six pregnancies and 80 cloned embryos. With this breakthrough, reproductive cloning became a reality for primates. So what’s next? We will take a look at various emerging technologies with human cloning.

Source: https://ipscell.com/2021/09/human-cloning-is-more-likely-now-but-would-you-take-the-big-risks/

Therapeutic Cloning

Therapeutic Cloning involves the creation of a cloned human embryo for the purpose of harvesting embryonic stem cells for medicinal use. Stem cells, which are formed in the first 5 days after a fertilized egg begins to divide, have the ability to become any other type of cell, and they can be used in experiments aimed at understanding diseases and developing new treatments. However, according to Hank Greely, a professor of law and genetics at Stanford University, who specializes in ethical, legal, and social issues related to biosciences, therapeutic cloning has been made redundant by other recent scientific developments. For example, the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in 2006, made it possible for adult cells (such as those found in skin) to be “reprogrammed” to resemble stem cells. Therefore, it doesn’t look like therapeutic cloning (from embryos) has much of a future.

Reproductive Cloning

Reproductive Cloning would involve a mature human cell having its DNA extracted, and placed in the egg cell of a donor that has had its nucleus removed. The fertilized egg would be implanted in the womb of an adult female. This type of human cloning would fall under A.R.T (Assisted Reproductive Technologies), which we covered in Part 2 of the “Future of Human Reproduction” series, and if it were used, it would probably be in concert with other A.R.T. For example, in 2019, Chinese scientists reported that they had utilized CRISPR-Cas9 to produce 5 monkey clones. By itself, however, reproductive cloning has probably been made obsolete by other technology, much like therapeutic cloning. And of course, the ethical dilemmas that it presents seem to outweigh the potential benefits.

Human Organ Cloning

Human Organ Cloning would grow an organ from stem cells, thereby creating a 100% genetic match. There has already been much progress with the largest organ in the body (the skin), where researchers have been able to grow stem cells from a burn patient’s epidermis (outermost layer of skin) and transfer them to affected areas. In 2020, Karl Koehler and a team at the Boston Children’s Hospital were able to use human stem cells to grow the whole skin, rather than just the epidermis. In time, researchers may be able to do the same for more complex organs, especially some of the most in demand. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, 83% of people on the waiting list are for kidneys, 12% are for livers, and 3% are for hearts. Fully functional cloned organs would eliminate the need for organ transplants, as well as the costly drugs that keep the body from rejecting them. Furthermore, organ cloning would greatly expand both the length and quality of human life as people would be able to replace organs that have any issues with brand-new ones. I believe that of the human cloning technologies we have discussed, this one has the most potential.

Source: https://depositphotos.com/193921644/stock-illustration-synthetic-lab-grown-human-organs.html

Unintended Consequences

These technologies are not without their downside. If stem cells can be created from adult cells, what will stop people from collecting and experimenting on your DNA without your authorization? When cloned organs become the norm, how much easier will it be to contaminate a crime scene and potentially frame someone for crimes they didn’t commit? When someone does indeed successfully clone a human being, what rights will they have? And as discussed in the “Future of Human Reproduction” series, will cloning technologies push us one step closer to eugenics?