MANY MAJOR U-S NEWSPAPERS, BEGINNING WITH SUNDAY'S NEW
YORK TIMES AND MONDAY'S WASHINGTON POST ALONG WITH MANY
OTHER PAPERS, RAN THE STORY OF THE SCOTTISH ACHIEVEMENT
ON THE FRONT PAGE. THE POST DESCRIBED HOW THE
TEAM, HEADED BY EMBRYOLOGIST IAN WILMUT AT THE ROSLIN
INSTITUTE IN MIDLOTHIAN, HAD USED THE DNA OF AN ADULT
SHEEP, AND THROUGH A COMPLICATED PROCESS, CAUSED IT TO
BEHAVE LIKE A FERTILIZED EGG. IT WAS THEN PLACED IN THE
WOMB OF ANOTHER SHEEP TO DEVELOP AND BE BORN.
MANY U-S PAPERS ARE COMMENTING ON THIS SINGULAR
ACHIEVEMENT, WITH ONE COMPARING IT TO THE DAWN OF THE
ATOMIC AGE, AND ANOTHER TO MAN'S DISCOVERY OF FIRE.
OTHERS ARE PONDERING THE MORAL AND ETHICAL QUESTIONS
THAT WILL ARISE MUCH FASTER THAN ANTICIPATED WITH THE
POSSIBILITY OF CLONING HUMANS. WE BEGIN OUR
SAMPLING OF EDITORIAL REACTION IN SAN DIEGO WHERE THE
UNION-TRIBUNE WONDERS ABOUT IMPLICATIONS.
"THE PROFOUND IMPLICATIONS OF THIS FEAT ..... ARE
IMPOSSIBLE TO GRASP TODAY. THE BREAKTHROUGH IS
COMPARABLE, PERHAPS, TO THE FIRST ATOMIC CHAIN REACTION,
ACHIEVED IN A UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LABORATORY IN 1942.
AT THAT MOMENT, NO ONE COULD COMPREHEND HOW THE
DISCOVERY WOULD TRANSFORM THE WORLD. AND ALTHOUGH THE
ATOMIC AGE BROUGHT WITH IT NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS AND A
HOST OF OTHER SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS, IT ALSO LED
INEXORABLY TO THE HYDROGEN BOMB, WITH ALL OF ITS
FRIGHTENING CONSEQUENCES."
TURNING TO THE AGRICULTURAL HEARTLAND OF AMERICA, THE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE, HAS THIS COMMENT ON HOW THE NEWS WAS
RECEIVED BY OTHERS.
"REACTIONS TO THE NEWS THAT SCIENTISTS .... HAVE CLONED
A MAMMAL - - POSSIBLY OPENING THE WAY TO CLONING OF
HUMANS -- WERE DOMINATED, PERHAPS APPROPRIATELY, BY
CLICHES AND PLATITUDES. 'THE GENIE IS OUT OF THE
BOTTLE,' SEEMED TO BE THE FAVORITE STEREOTYPICAL
EXPRESSION OF COMMENTATORS MONDAY, FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY
REFERENCES TO 'THE SLIPPERY SLOPE.' ..... THE
FACT IS THAT NOW THAT CLONING OF MAMMALS ..... HAS BEEN
SHOWN POSSIBLE ... THERE PROBABLY IS NO CONTAINING IT
EITHER..... BIOLOGICALLY, A CLONE IS NOT THE
SON OR DAUGHTER OF THE ONE CLONED; IT IS THE IDENTICAL
TWIN, ALTHOUGH CLONE AND ORIGINAL COULD BE SEPARATED IN
AGE BY ... DECADES. THAT HAS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN HOW
THEY RELATE TO EACH OTHER. CLONING IS RADICALLY
DIFFERENT IN ANOTHER WAY. MAKING A CHILD THE
OLD-FASHIONED WAY INVOLVES A SHARING OF ONESELF WITH
ANOTHER IN AN ACT THAT HAS BOTH PHYSICAL--EVOLUTIONARY
CONSEQUENCES AND SOCIAL--SPIRITUAL ONES. CLONING
ONESELF, BY CONTRAST, WOULD SEEM THE ULTIMATE
SELF-REGARDING ACT, AN ASSERTION BY THE CLONED THAT HE
OR SHE NEEDS AND WANTS NO ONE ELSE. CAN SOCIETY STAND
MANY SUCH PERSONALITIES?"
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, EQUALLY IMPRESSED, SAYS IN
PART:
BY CREATING A CLONED ADULT MAMMAL ..... SCOTTISH
RESEARCHERS HAVE ENTERED A NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE, FILLED
WITH MEDICAL PROMISE BUT FRAUGHT WITH ETHICAL,
PHILOSOPHICAL, PRACTICAL AND EVEN THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS.
..... CLONING MAMMALS FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH, FOR USE IN
PRODUCING DRUGS AND FOR ANIMAL HUSBANDRY HAS GREAT
POTENTIAL, BUT THE NOTION OF CREATING PERFECT GENETIC
COPIES OF HUMANS RAISES A HOST OF UNSETTLING
POSSIBILITIES. ....THE WORLD MUST NOW LEARN
TO DEAL WITH THIS NEW SCIENCE, JUST AS PRIMITIVES
LEARNED TO USE FIRE AND MODERN HUMANS ARE WRESTLING WITH
THE USES OF NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. THE QUESTIONS IS: ARE
WE READY YET?"
IN NEW ENGLAND, THE BOSTON GLOBE PICKS UP THAT
THEME:
"A LOT OF SCIENTISTS, INCLUDING DR. IAN WILMUT, WHO
HEADED THE ..... RESEARCH, SAY THEY WOULD NOT GO DOWN
THE ROAD TO HUMAN CLONING AND FIND SUCH TINKERING
OFFENSIVE. BUT OTHER SCIENTISTS FEEL THAT WHERE A
RESEARCH FRONTIER BECKONS, THEY SHOULD GO. SUCH
CURIOSITY AND THE PUSHING OF TECHNOLOGICAL LIMITS IS,
AFTER ALL, WHAT MAKES THE FIELD EXCITING, AND HAS
BROUGHT ABOUT THE WORLD'S GREAT DISCOVERIES. BOTH
ATTITUDES MUST COME TOGETHER IN VIGOROUS, EXTENSIVE
PUBLIC DEBATE."
THE NATIONAL USA TODAY POSES, AMONG ITS OTHER COMMENTS,
THIS QUESTION.
"....ASK YOURSELF: IF SCIENCE CAN REPRODUCE ANY
INDIVIDUAL, WILL WE SOMEDAY CONCLUDE THAT INDIVIDUAL
LIFE HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE? THE ANSWER: WHO KNOWS?
DESPITE A FEW BRIEF BLIPS IN THE PAST QUARTER CENTURY,
SCIENCE AND SOCIETY HAVE JOINTLY FAILED TO RESOLVE THESE
ISSUES. WE BARELY UNDERSTAND THE ETHICS OF CLONING
SHEEP, MUCH LESS HUMANS. YET HERE WE ARE, CONFRONTED BY
THE POSSIBILITY."
WRITING A REBUTTAL TO THE MAIN EDITORIAL IN USA
TODAY, JEREMY RIFKIN, PRESIDENT OF THE FOUNDATION ON
ECONOMIC TRENDS IN WASHINGTON SAYS IN PART:
"ANIMAL CLONING IS A FUNDAMENTAL DEPARTURE FROM BOTH
NATURAL EVOLUTION AND CLASSICAL BREEDING AND OUGHT TO BE
PROHIBITED ON BOTH ETHICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GROUNDS.
IT RISKS UNDERMINING BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY WITHIN EACH
SPECIES, AND SHORT-TERM COMMERCIAL BENEFITS COULD
THREATEN LONGTERM SURVIVABILITY OF OUR FELLOW CREATURES.
..... HUMAN CLONING RAISES THE ULTIMATE QUESTION OF WHO
SHOULD PLAY GOD."
AND FINALLY, THESE THOUGHTS FROM THE WALL STREET
JOURNAL.
"WE HAVE BEEN STARING ..... INTO THE FACE OF THE CLONED
LAMB, DOLLY, STARING OUT AT ALL OF US FROM THE WORLD'S
FRONT PAGES. DOLLY HAS THE EYES OF AN INTERLOCUTOR.
SHE SEEMS TO BE SAYING: YOU HAVE DONE THIS TO ME SO THAT
I MAY OFFER THE BENEFITS OF MEDICINE TO YOU, BUT BEFORE
YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELF, I THINK YOU SHOULD KNOW MORE
ABOUT WHO YOU ARE."
AND ON THAT PHILOSOPHICAL NOTE, WE CONCLUDE THIS
SAMPLING OF REACTION TO THE NEWS THAT A MAMMAL HAS BEEN
SUCCESSFULLY CLONED BY SCIENTISTS IN SCOTLAND.
25-Feb-97
Source: Voice of America