Cloning the Dead
Following up on an idea first floated in February, the UK health ministry is now proposing allowing scientists to try to create clonal embryos from the tissues of dead people, most of whom have not given their consent. Such an amendment to the current controversial bill to overhaul that nation's regulation of assisted reproduction and embryo research will be debated later this week.
Even setting aside the fact that this work would use cloning techniques, the proposal crosses a stark line. The need to obtain informed consent of research participants is generally considered paramount.
Moreover, I am perplexed why UK scientists would push for this, particularly considering the potential backlash. Until now, the only purported work along these lines of which I am aware was claimed by Panos Zavos, the notorious publicity hound and reproductive cloning advocate. Is there a shortage of living persons - particular those with diseases that may be treated through stem cells - who are willing to provide tissues for cloning-based research? Do the scientists just want to avoid a potentially cumbersome consent process? Or do the banked tissues have certain characteristics which are difficult to replicate?
Previously on Biopolitical Times:
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