Theory Claims to Discover Morally Acceptable Cloning

From a Culture & Cosmos email:

Controversial Theory Claims to Discover Morally Acceptable Cloning

A member of the President's Council on Bioethics believes he may have found a way to obtain stem cells with the same potential as embryonic stem cells without creating or destroying a human embryo.

Dr. William Hurlbut is a medical doctor and a consulting professor in human biology at Stanford University. An opponent of embryonic destructive stem cell research, Hurlbut has been busy visiting prominent Catholic clerics and other ethicists to see if the technology he proposes is morally acceptable.

According to a recent Boston Globe story that gave extensive coverage to Hurlbut's ideas, the new technique would mirror similar methods of cloning. DNA from a human egg is removed and replaced with adult DNA. But unlike traditional cloning, in Hurlbut's method the gene responsible for creating the placenta is turned off. Hurlbut contends that this prevents an embryo from ever being created. But like traditional cloning, the egg still generates inner cell mass, or the "blank" cells, that some scientist believe have the greatest research potential. The Globe reports that parts of the technique are currently being performed on mice.

Hurlbut will present his findings at the next meeting of the President's Bioethics Council later this week. The Council was established by President George Bush in 2001 in the wake of his decision to deny federal funds for stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos; members "advise the President on bioethical issues that may emerge as a consequence of advances in biomedical science and technology."

Leading up to the presentation Hurlbut has been selling the idea to clerics like San Francsico Archbishop William Levada; Princeton professor and Catholic intellectual Robert George; and Nigel Cameron, an Evangelical who lectures and writes on bioethics. It has been reported that all three are receptive to the proposal. In October he presented the idea at a colloquium on the stem cell debate sponsored by Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law. Hurlbut told colloquium participants that Archbishop Levada believes the new technology had great potential to be acceptable and the Globe story reports that the archbishop wrote a letter to the president offering support for Hurlbut's proposal.

There is a fundamental question that must be answered before Hurlbut's proposal can be approved. Does the technique he proposes prevent a human embryo from ever being created or does it actually produce a deformed embryo? The question will require more study by serious students of the ethical concerns that arise from cutting edge scientific discoveries. But what Hurlbut's proposal does show is that scientific advances may themselves offer solutions to pressing moral quandaries.

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