Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning

1. Stem Cell Researchand Human Cloning Ray Campbell Director, Queensland Bioethics Centre

2. The Big Picture • “Human nature itself lies on the operating table, ready for alteration, for eugenic and neuropsychic ‘enhancement’, for wholesale redesign. In leading laboratories, academic and industrial, new creators are confidently amassing their powers and quietly honing their skills, while on the street their evangelists are zealously prophesying a posthuman future. For anyone who cares about preserving our humanity, the time has come to pay attention.” (Leon Kass, Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity)

3. Some Questions • What does it mean to treat nascent human life as raw material to be exploited as a mere natural resource? • What does it mean to blur the lines between procreation and manufacture? • What are the likely future possibilities emerging from out current decisions? • Can we control where this project is taking us, so as to reap the benefits without losing our humanity? If so, how? (Leon Kass)

4. Stem cells • A generic cell which can a) continue to proliferate and b) give rise to specialised cells • Totipotent stem cells: can give rise to every cell in the human body -- the single cell zygote and the very early embryo • Pluripotent: can give rise to many different specialised cells • Multipotent: generates cells for a particular type of tissue • Unipotent: able to form only one differentiated type Differentiation

5. Kinds of stem cells • Adult stem cells (post natal) • Able to produce exact copies of themselves and differentiated daughter cells • Said to be multipotent • More pliable than first believed -- possibility of transdifferentiation -- pluripotent • Difficult to find, but more being identified • www.stemcellreseach.org

6. More recent developments with adult stem cells • Baby teeth as source of stem cells • Use of olfactory tissue • Olfactory neurons • Olfactory stem cells • Olfactory ensheathing cells – producing insulating myelin sheaths • Therapies and clinical trials using them already exist – cancers, autoimmune disease, stroke, heart attack, skin, bone and cartilage deformities, spinal injury(?)

7. Kinds of stem cells • Foetal stem cells • Taken from foetal tissue • Make up the bulk of the tissue • Thought to be capable of generating whole organs • Generally not rejected to the same extent as post-natal tissue • Obtained from aborted or miscarried foetuses.

8. Kinds of stem cells • Umbilical cord blood and placenta tissue stem cells • Good source of stem cells particularly for bone marrow • Less chance of rejection • Cord blood banks • To date, limited application

9. Kinds of stem cells • Embryonic stem cells • Cells which have not yet differentiated -- pluripotent • Hailed as possible source for many cures -- but none to date • Obtained by destroying an embryo

10. Developing embryo

11. Obtaining embryonic stem cells

12. From embryonic cell to specialised cell

13. Obtaining embryonic stem cells • from existing “spare” embryos from IVF process – destroys the embryo • through cloning and then destroying the embryo

14. What is a clone? • "one or a group of genetically identical cells, organisms, or plants derived by vegetative reproduction from a single parent." Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (29th edition) • "member of group of organisms produced asexually from one individual”, The Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary

15. Three types of human cloning • Replicating genetic & cellular material e.g. DNA fragments, particular cells

16. Three types of human cloning • Splitting of human embryo -- blastomere separation

17. Three types of human cloning • Somatic cell nuclear transfer

18. Dolly • February, 1997, the Roslin Institute, Scotland

19. Human somatic cell transfer to an enucleated human ovum (actually fusion of a human somatic cell with an enucleated human ovum); Human somatic cell nuclear transfer to an enucleated human embryo; Human somatic cell transfer to an enucleated animal ovum; Human somatic cell nuclear transfer to an enucleated animal embryo; Transfer of chromosomes from more than one human individual to a human or animal enucleated ovum or embryo; “Fertilisation” of a human ovum by chromosomes from a human somatic cell; Fusion of ova from two different women or from the same woman; Parthenogenesis Human Cloning Possibilities

20. When is a clone a clone? • Most of Dolly’s mitochondria (99.5%) came from the egg = 37 genes • In humans this would mean 1% of DNA would not be the same as the donor • Nuclear genetic identity, not total

21. Developmental problems with clones • Inefficiency -- only 2% to 4% of mammalian clones are long term survivors • Poor Imprinting -- molecular mechanism through which genes inside sperm and egg cells are turned on or off in preparation for early embryonic and fetal development • Need for a large number of eggs – hence some advocate the use of animal eggs for human cloning

22. Reproductive cloning and “therapeutic” cloning • Reproductive cloning -- cloning for the sake of bringing a genetically identical person to birth; • Therapeutic cloning -- supposedly for some therapeutic purpose • In what sense is this a valid distinction? -- a distinction based upon further purposes of the actual cloning

23. Reproductive cloning and “therapeutic” cloning • Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights, 1997 states that practices such as “reproductive cloning of human beings shall not be permitted”. • The Declaration makes no reference to “therapeutic” cloning • The relevant distinction was between cloning human beings and cloning parts.

24. Reproductive cloning and “therapeutic” cloning • A false distinction • All human cloning is embryo cloning • All human cloning is experimental • A misuse of the term “therapeutic” • never used for research destructive of the subject • Recent attempts to avoid use of word cloning by referring to somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) • SCNT is cloning!!

25. The Issues • The Current Legislation: Research Involving Embryos Act and Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002

26. Purpose of the Acts • REA:“to address concerns, including ethical concerns, about scientific developments in relation to human reproduction and the utilisation of human embryos by regulating activities that involve the use of certain human embryos created by assisted reproductive technology.” • Notice it is “use of human embryos” not “respect for” or “care of”.

27. Purposes of Acts • PHCA: “to address concerns, including ethical concerns, about scientific developments in relation to human reproduction and the utilisation of human embryos by prohibiting certain practices.”

28. The Act and embryonic stem cells • Nowhere in the Act is there mention of embryonic stem cells. The reference is in the explanatory memorandum • The Act permits destructive research on human embryos providing certain conditions are met. – Nowhere is this research limited to the harvesting of stem cells. • The majority of approvals already granted are not for obtaining stem cells

29. Current Situation • Lockhart Review and Report and Patterson Bill • While claiming that embryos from eggs and sperm should only be created for reproductive purposes, there is no mechanism to ensure this • Want to redefine the embryo • Want to allow cloning for research purposes • Would permit many of the practices currently forbidden

30. Senate Inquiry • Senate Inquiry of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee into the Provisions of the Research Involving Human Embryos and Prohibition of Human Cloning Bill 2002

31. Community Affairs Legislation Committee Chair’s Report • “The heart of the ethical debate before the Committee is the question of whether or not the embryo enjoys the same moral status as an adult or child, and hence whether it is an open question that it may be morally acceptable to destroy a human embryo for the sake of the benefit of others.” (3.11) (References in brackets are to the Chair’s Report)

32. The Question • Who is to count as a member of the human family? • The new legislation seeks to put a different value on a cloned embryo than an embryo created by fertilisation • It is still illegal to create an embryo by fertilisation for anything other than reproductive purposes.

33. Embryos with different status • A wanted embryo (and/or foetus) in the womb • An unwanted embryo (and/or foetus) in the womb • A wanted, unfrozen embryo outside the womb • An unwanted, unfrozen embryo outside the womb • A wanted frozen embryo • An unwanted frozen embryo • A cloned embryo

34. Biologically and ontologically –the same “From the moment that the first cell is formed, a human embryo is an individual organism oriented to development to human adulthood, normally requiring only nutrition and a favourable environment for that development to occur, and whose inherited nature is formed by the human genome which carries the inherent radical capacity for rationality that is distinctive of human beings.” (Senate Report, Comments by Senator Harradine, 1.13, p.185)

35. The status of the embryoThe status of the question • “It is reasonable to say that more false information, misrepresentations, half-truths and outright lies concerning human embryology have been stated since Roe v Wade than at any previous time in history, including ancient times.”(C. Ward Kisher, “The Media and Human Embryology” Linacre Quarterly, May, 1998, p.34)

36. Moral significance of being human • "For us Christians, the human person is the apex of everything created. Their great dignity is like a reflection of the divine image, an indelible imprint on their very being, and as such ranks above all other things, so that human beings can never be considered mere instruments to be used for the benefit of others.

37. Moral significance of being human • Unfortunately, modern technological and political mentality sometimes seems to ignore this, forgetting the values and the rights of the human spirit.Since human beings are persons and the subjects of any action, there is no human reason or pretext in the scientific, social, political or economic order which could ever justify a change in their function or status from subjects to objects." (Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace, The Church and Human Rights, 1974).

38. Moral foundations • Every human person to be valued of and for themselves not as a means to another end • Wisdom to use knowledge in a way respectful of the good of every human person