Prof. asks: "To clone, or not to clone?

"I am not standing before you today as an expert on this topic. I fully intend this to be an interactive event," said Dr. Craig Paterson of the Philosophy Department to a group of approximately 60 students and faculty gathered in Slavin Soft Lounge Tuesday afternoon. The event, entitled "The Ethical Dilemmas of Human Cloning,"was interactive, and though Paterson did not claim to have detailed scientific knowledge of the subject, he proved in his lecture that his understanding of cloning is sizeable.

Paterson said that he believes human cloning will become a reality. "If not in the next weeks, then in the next months," he warned. "It's a pressing topic." Quoting statistics from both a CNN USA Today Gallup Poll and a survey from the Pugh Research Center, Paterson pointed out that the general public is opposed to, or hesitant, to encourage cloning for research or for its own sake. Cloning has been in the mind of people around the world since Dolly, the cloned sheep, was introduced in 1997. "We had been cloning for two or three decades before this," pointed out Paterson. Dolly simply "brought the prospect of cloning much more to the forefront," he explained.

"Not all forms of cloning are ethically problematic," said Paterson, using molecular cloning as a less controversial example. Research in insulin production, in addition to cell cloning for experiments in developing cures for diseases also fall under this "safe" category. He is in favor of cloning for scientific research and development that allow us to "understand more about the nature and process" of cell development without threatening human life. The question we need to ask, stressed Paterson, is, "Just what are we cloning and for what purpose?" Paterson continued by explaining that the main area of controversy has to do with other forms of cloning.

Embryo cloning, reproductive cloning, and biomedical cloning raise ethical concerns in Paterson's view. He takes issue with "the technology of artificially cloning...cells which have the potential to form new life," because it is abnormal, and not in accordance with nature. The event of identical twins, which can be equated to cloning in nature, occurs only 0.3 % of the time and, "suggests there's a type of abnormality," said Paterson. He went on to explain about nuclear transfer cloning, which is when the nucleus is "scraped" out of the embryo and transplanted. This cloning process was used to create Dolly. After 277 attempts and the procurement of 26 embryos, only one, Dolly, came to term. This fact is testament to the unnatural nature of the process.

Paterson expressed views on stem cell research in relation to cloning and therapeutic cloning. "Those who advocate therapeutic cloning are essentially saying that [the embryo] less than fully human," said Paterson, a standpoint he disagrees with. He explained that the embryo was a human being with a human nature and that "we should respect that nature." He suggested that adult stem cells be used instead of destroying a developing human embryo for stem cell research.

Paterson also touched on reproductive cloning, which may be used in the future by infertile couples or couples who have lost a child. A dead child could be cloned to produce a "time-delayed twin," explained Paterson. Again, he asked, "What's the nature of the intent?" He passionately spoke about the nature of parenthood. "We have to respect the open nature of our offspring," he remarked. This sort of cloning gives "control to parents that parents should not have vis-a-vis their child." Cloning takes away from the uniqueness of the child, of human life. He called it a "perversity of thinking" saying also that we "want to create a mirror image of ourselves." Simply stated, "It's manipulative," said Paterson.

Paterson fears the "commodification of children," as he put it, through cloning. "We start to think in terms of artifice," he said. Reproductive cloning is "intrinsically disordered by the intention of the parents," he explained.

Identical twins are an accident of nature explained Paterson, a fraternal twin himself. "If we start by design," to try to cause such an occurrence, as in cloning, "...what are we doing?" he asked of the audience. "The end does not justify the means," he said in crystallizing his point.

After Paterson's presentation, an open question and answer period began. In response to a question posed by a student, Paterson said, "I don't think the issue of reproductive cloning is a lost cause." He continued to say that therapeutic cloning is more difficult because our society already permits experimentation and research that is ethically problematic. We are "trying to shore up a dam that's already leaking all over the place," explained Paterson. Paterson's lecture was met with mixed reaction. Gennaro Episcopo '05, said after the lecture, "Though the issue discussed was philosophically intriguing, it seems to me that as the world is on the brink of war, philosophy has a duty to discuss more pressing issues at hand. If we cannot respect each other as fully developed human beings, how can we talk seriously about respect towards clusters of cells?" Rev. Joseph Cassidy, O.P., did not share Episcopo's view. He praised Paterson's lecture and even engaged in conversation about the topic with students after the lecture, speaking of the lack of therapeutic benefit from cloning for many people and other issues. Dr. Matthew Cuddeback, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, said, "Dr. Paterson warned us of the grave consquences of treating human life as a commodity."

Tom Casano '06 said, "I was impressed by the clarity in which Dr. Paterson outlined the essential problems of human cloning." Mary Rybak '05 agreed, "I left with a clearer understanding of the moral implications that human cloning involves, and a basis on which to form my position on this issue as it gets more prevalent in our society today," she said.

When asked what he hoped he had relayed across to the audience, Paterson replied saying that, "We need to grapple with the ethical significance of this topic before events overtake us," and emphasized that our society, "shouldn't be slow to act."