"No longer can we yawn in the face of the future," Dr. Joseph Piscitelli stated matter-of-factly in 1981. "While there is no immediate danger of human cloning, that doesn't say future dangers can't exist." About 17 years later in 1998, Dr Richard Seed declared, "God made man in his own image. Therefore, he intended that man should become one with God. Man should have an indefinite life and have indefinite knowledge. And we’re going to do it, and this is one step. New things of any kinds – mechanical, biological, intellectual – always tend to create fear and abhorrence."
On reflection, Billy Graham acknowledged in 2002, "Although it may happen in the next few years somewhere in the world, the cloning of a human being raises very serious moral and ethical questions. Just because scientists can do something like this doesn't mean they should. What makes us unique as human beings is that we have a soul or spirit within us – a spiritual part that has the capacity to know God. In other words, we aren't just a body and a mind; we have a spiritual side as well, given to us by God.
"In fact, the Bible says that at the beginning of the human race God put part of Himself within us: 'God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.' (Genesis 1:27). If a human being is ever cloned, that person will have a soul – otherwise they would not be fully human. No one knows if the cloning of a human being will actually ever take place, of course. But no matter what happens, never lose sight of the fact that we are unique, because we were created by God so we could have fellowship with Him. You are not just another species of animal!"
"Who is to say what characteristics make the ideal human being?" Dr. Piscitelli asked the question back in 1981. "The moral and ethical implications are many. What scares me is that laboratory mistakes will be made along the way. How will we deal with them? Does the scientific end justify the means? I don't think so. We're dealing here with human life, the highest form of existence on this planet. Cloning takes human procreation out of the realm of human sexuality."
Claude Vorilhon, also known as Rael, started the Raelian movement in 1974 (with about 55,000 members counted in 2002). In 1997, Rael and other investors formed Valiant Venture Limited in the Bahamas to run the first human cloning company called 'Clonaid'. Brigitte Boisselier made the point, "If my 2002 science is giving babies to parents who have been dying to get one with their own genes, is my science worse than the one preparing bombs to kill people. I am creating life."
"We must be sure that clonal pregnancy is first possible and second safe in humans," the American Society of Reproductive Medicine maintained. "Thus far (as at Christmas 2002), we don't have evidence for either. Based on the current state of knowledge, we do not believe taking a clonal pregnancy to term would be possible in humans."
It was reported in 1997, the Roslin Institute was seeking cloning patent with the World Intellectual Property Organization. Harry Griffin: "Our applications do . . . apply to use in animals. But it is up to the relevant authority in each country to decide whether the term 'animals' should include humans." At the time, it was understood the Rural Advancement Foundation International was lobbying the World Health Organization to block the patents because "the ethics and the fate of human cloning is not a matter to be entrusted to the Roslin Institute. This is an issue of profound global importance and must be resolved at the highest levels."
It was mentioned the Rural Advancement Foundation International expressed concern PPL Therapeutics, the company collaborating with the scientific team that cloned Dolly the sheep, could sublicense the technology to the 3 big pharmaceutical enterprises: Boehringer Ingelheim of Germany, Nov Nordisk of Denmark, and the American Home Products.
Dr Sherman Silber of the Infertility Center in St. Louis argued, "The idea of setting up a human cloning clinic is kind of a crackpot notion, even forgetting the ethical issues, because the effectiveness rate would be so low." Associated Press reported, "It took 277 attempts before Dolly was born in 1997. Gerald Schatten's team of researchers tried even longer to clone a rhesus monkey – 724 eggs that yielded only 33 embryos and not a single pregnancy."
