Human Cloning: Infringing the Rights of the People

Science and its development have reaped unimagined benefits on mankind in term of healthcare. This development has further led to the path of new discoveries out from which human cloning is one of them and a matter of concern over this past few years. It is basically the creation of the exact copy of the existing human or growing cloned tissue from the individual. The cloning of animals and Homo sapiens was been unexplored until recently after the successful cloning which was done to ‘Dolly the sheep’ and people have started having diverse and strongly held opinions regarding the morality of human cloning. The major ethical aspect of human cloning depends on the perspective of the people regarding its process i.e. whether this thing would act as a bane or boon for the society in general. This may not be a distant dream, when people would be totally dependent on technology and here where this human cloning would come into existence where people would sit at their homes comfortably and let their clones out to go out and work, while you reap the benefits. If people would perform their activity this way it is a near reality that human cloning which is a matter of major discussion in this current scenario would be permitted by everyone.

There are basically two types of cloning:

1. Reproductive cloning- reproductive cloning is used to create a by-product genetically identical to that of the donor through the somatic cell transfer.
2. Therapeutic cloning- The therapeutic cloning is used to potentially treat diseases in any body organ or tissue by replacing dysfunctional cells. Here the embryo is created in the same cloning process but the cloned cell is kept in a dish in the lab rather than implanting in the uterus.

Talking about the bad impact of human cloning on society as of now:

Firstly talking about the main problem with regard to this cloning is the technology which is seen to be unsafe as of now. The by-product coming out of this process doesn’t have a long life span i.e. many animals who survived after birth died from heart and blood vessel problems, diabetes, and most importantly due to the deficiency of the immune system. The human cloning by forth is based on personal notoriety rather than the greater good as this thing can also be misused by the experts who know the process of accessing it and can lead to criminal misconduct i.e. each person has its own unique genetic make-up and if same cloned human being is produced with the technology this may lead to notorious activities in the society. It breaches the fundamental rights of the individuals as it challenges the law of nature that everyone is made with some different characteristics which make them unique in this society and cloning would totally contradict this thing. Some scientists can even take undue advantages by creating an embryo for the purpose of creating stem cells, which could be used for a number of degenerative diseases. The Human Fertilization and Embryology Act 1990 in the U.K state that “the license provided under the Act doesn’t allow authorizing the replacement of nucleus of the embryonic cell with the nucleus of another human embryonic cell to develop an embryo”[1], which clearly indicate that this cloning process is done illegally.

According to the analysis, cloning should be prohibited as of now in society. If at all the experts think to bring this thing into action an unambiguous international law on cloning would be required to govern this in the right path. To date, the laws and policies related to cloning are far away from uniform across the globe and the legal position in some countries remains uncertain. In India, the council of Medical Research has prohibited the use of human cloning as of today but not yet declared therapeutic cloning as prohibited as it just acts as a treatment of the dysfunctional organs. The council of Europe’s additional protocol, for the protection of human rights, has strictly restricted the creation of human clones whether living or dead[2]. For now, ‘in- vitro fertilization’ is the best thing accepted by the Medical Research Council and is practiced in the present scenario as well because unlike human cloning this is done legally to conceive baby which has the gene of the parent but not a clone of that individual. The homosexual man and lesbians can also go for this ‘in- vitro fertilization’ process to conceive a child with their genotype.

Conclusion

Animal cloning[3] to some extent can still be practiced as the research in the particular area of science cannot be stopped but human cloning is still banned. Nevertheless, human cloning can never be possible now as there is no such law to guide it. The countries should formulate proper law-making body and strict guidelines and special teams need to assigned in the United Nations where all the rest member countries can spectate the research and experiments happening in a respective country until then it should be banned internationally till the time the scientists, ethicist, etc find out answers to the morality of human cloning thoroughly.

Abhijit Mohanty, a fourth-year law student from Amity University Rajasthan pursuing BBA LLB(Hons.) integrated course with specialization in International Trade Law.

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[1] Section 3 (3) (d) of the human fertilization and embryology act 1990.

[2] https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/168

[3] The cloning of the woolly mammoth done by Japanese scientist