Book Reviews

To clone or not to clone?A Clone of Your Own? – The Science and Ethics of Cloning by Arlene Judith Klotzko, Oxford University Press, 2004. £12.99

(342 pages) ISBN 0192803093

Ian Wilmut

Roslin Institute, Roslin, Midlothian, UK, EH25 9PS

In this excellent little book, ArleneKlotzko weaves a rich tapestry fromideas and facts relating to human clon-ing. In developing her thoughts shedraws upon many aspects of life, includ-ing the history of science, novels, movies,the law and the current political position.Following legal training, her particular

concern has been with the ethical impli-

cations of scientific advances. Klotzko holds severalpositions, including being writer in residence at theScience Museum (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk) inLondon (UK) and is a Visiting Scholar in ethics atUniversity College London (http://www.ucl.ac.uk).

In A Clone of Your Own, Klotzko provides a cleardescription of the process of nuclear transfer and thederivation of stem cells from embryos, as well asconsidering the possibility of using nuclear transfertechnology to produce either a child or an embryo fromwhich it would be possible to obtain stem cells. Such aproposal raises important ethical questions.

Cells derived from an embryo about a week afterfertilization retain the ability to form all the differenttissues of an adult. Thus there is the promise of being ableto use these stem cells in the treatment of disease.Derivation of these cells from an embryo involvesseparating all the cells of that embryo, meaning that theembryo, as a unit, is lost.

There are profound differences of opinion about thisprocedure. The embryo is a small hollow ball ofw200 cellsthat cannot be seen without the aid of a microscope at thestage when cells are obtained. It will be several moreweeks before the developing fetus has a central nervoussystem and could be considered conscious. To those whobelieve that a fertilized egg is as much a human as amature adult, stem cell derivation is tantamount tomurder. To others, it is inappropriate to consider theembryo a person, but rather a specific tissue that has thepotential to develop into a person. Opinion polls suggestthat, in many countries, the majority of people aresupportive of stem cell research.

A crucial requirement of cells placed in a patient is thatthey should not be rejected. If the cells used for therapyare taken from a donated embryo, the patient wouldalmost certainly have to take drugs to prevent rejection ofthese foreign cells. Nuclear transfer might one day be usedto provide cells that are immunologically matched to the

Corresponding author: Ian Wilmut (Ian.Wilmut@bbsrc.ac.uk).Available online 25 August 2004

www.sciencedirect.com

patient. A great deal remains to be learned about thepractical limitations of methods of therapy that use cellsderived from embryos, and the potential value of pro-ducing cells from cloned embryos for use in therapy isuncertain.

In the popular press, the birth of cloned children is themost frequently discussed potential use of nucleartransfer. This is suggested for several reasons, includingbeing a means of overcoming infertility or ‘bringing back’a lost child. In considering these possibilities it isimportant to consider exactly what the potential conse-quences would be.

A child produced by transferring the genetic infor-mation of an infertile man into the egg of his partnerwould be a genetically identical twin of the adult. Theywould be more like the donor than any other person –apart from an identical twin born at the same time.However, they would be less alike than a twin because theclone would be born to a different mother and therefore besubject to different accidents of life.

The concern expressed by many people regarding sucha situation is that the clone would not be treated as a newindividual, but would be expected to be like the originaldonor. Klotzko counters this by pointing out that naturaltwins are clones, and that we recognize this and relate tothem as individuals. However, to regard the two situationsas identical is to ignore the effect of the difference in agebetween clone and adult and that inevitably everyone,including the clone, would know of the life history of theadult. I personally have a great concern that clones wouldbe treated differently from the rest of the populace.

In A Clone of Your Own, Klotzko discusses thedevelopment and application of the techniques of nucleartransfer and stem cell derivation in a rich historical andcultural context. She offers her ethical opinion on specificchoices that might arise one day because of thesetechniques. She has obviously met and interviewedmany of those alive today who made significant contri-butions to these rapidly advancing fields. Reminiscencesabout her conversations with those concerned and insightsinto their personalities enliven the text. I know of nobetter introduction to the important subject of cloningthan A Clone of Your Own.

0160-9327/$ - see front matter Q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.endeavour.2004.07.011

Update Endeavour Vol.28 No.4 December 2004