Pro-lifers Warn of Ethical Dilemma as Cloning Research Proceeds

Two months after the breakthrough on therapeutic cloning of human embryos in England and Korea, a new ethical dilemma has been provoked as Professor Ian Wilmut - Father of Dolly the first cloned sheep - is applying to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for permission to advertise for women to donate their ova for use in the research.

The core of the dilemma lies on the high failure rate of the production of a viable embryo during the research experiment. For example, Dolly was a success story that followed 277 failed attempts.

However, each failed attempt in this new experiment would mean numerous destructions of lives. It has outraged pro-lifers, who generally believe life starts from an embryo even when it is just a ball of cells in physical form.

According to the Guardian newspaper, cloning experts in Britain are allowed to use only spare eggs left over from couples undergoing treatment at fertility clinics. The eggs are typically rejects of the IVF process and are routinely discarded if not used in experiments.

Religious groups and pro-lifers question the necessity of Professor Wilmut’s request for "fresh" eggs from healthy women. They also warn that the proposal will pose a new ethical dilemma in case some economically disadvantaged women and those of developing countries will come under pressure to donate ova in exchange for money.

Donald Bruce, who heads the Scottish Church's society, religion and technology project, said to the Guardian, "There are already eggs which are available. That a researcher now wants a certain type of egg is starting to turn the egg and women into commodities. They become just a link in a process."

The threat to women’s health is another concern of pro-lifers. They demand that any woman considering donating eggs must be fully informed of the health risks before undergoing the lengthy and sometimes painful procedure.

Matthew O'Gorman from the UK’s leading pro-life charity Life, said, "Egg donation is a procedure that is invasive, uncomfortable and potentially damaging to women's health. Cloning necessitates women being treated as battery hens for their biological material. This is both demeaning and unacceptable."

Despite all the critics so far, Professor Wilmut argued, "I have never doubted that women would donate if they thought we were helping people to have treatment. Our hope and belief is that women who have seen the devastating effect of this disease will be prepared to make such a donation."

Professor Ian Wilmut of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute was granted a licence to perform therapeutic cloning of human embryos from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). He has planned to perform the cloning of human embryos so that stem cells can be yielded to investigate a cure for muscle-wasting illnesses.

In May, while both England and Korea have made ground-breaking achievements in human cloning, a deep worry has been raised among pro-lifers who say that cloning could potentially become a global crisis leading to a slippery slope over bioethics.

According to the Guardian, a spokeswoman for the HFEA refused to comment on whether Professor Wilmut's proposal had been received but said that permission would have to be granted by both an independent ethics committee and the HFEA's own licensing group.

There is nothing in the HFEA's guidelines that would prevent, in principle, women donating eggs for cloning research.