Evolution, Human Cloning, and Stem Cells

1. Evolution, Human Cloning, and Stem Cells Dr. Ray Bohlin Probe Ministries www.probe.org rbohlin@probe.org

2. Human Social Systems Have Evolved The Reproductive Imperative (survival and reproduction)

3. Human Social Systems Have Evolved Why do we love our children? It is an effective means of producing effective reproducers.

4. The Individual Is Meaningless • Over evolutionary time, it is species survival that matters, not individual survival. • The organism is just DNA’s way of making more DNA.

5. All Behavior Is Basically Selfish “No species, ours included, possesses a purpose beyond the imperatives created by its own genetic history. . . We have no particular place to go. The species lacks any goal external to its own biological nature.” E. O Wilson (1978)

6. Personal Worth and Dignity? • All behavior is ultimately selfish • Personal survival and reproduction are all that matter • The individual is meaningless • Species survival is the ultimate goal

7. The Search for Significance hope and meaning (survival and reproduction) HOPE AND MEANING (worth and dignity)

8. Total Truth http://www.gnpcb.org/sites/total.truth/

10. Cloning Dolly starved fusewith Mammary gland cell enucleated egg potential embryo

11. Scientific Issues - Sheep • Inefficient - 277 fusions, 1 lamb • How long will Dolly live? • Will Dolly be fertile? Yes! • Other clones are large and fragile with subtle genetic abnormalities • Some questioned Dolly’s authenticity but this was answered recently.

12. Why Clone Animals? Sheep are being cloned to reproduce genetically engineered sheep. These sheep are engineered to mass produce human proteins in their milk.

13. Why Clone Humans? Doug Dorner, sterile because of leukemia treatment at age 16: “The more he read the more excited he got. ‘Technology saved my life when I was 16,’ he says, but at the cost of his fertility. ‘I think technology should help me have a kid. That’s a fair trade.’” Time, 2/19/2001, p. 51

14. Why Clone Humans? Randolphe Wicker, 63: “’I can thumb my nose at Mr. Death and say, ‘You might get me, but you’re not going to get all of me,’ he says. ‘The special formula that is me will live on into another lifetime. It’s a partial triumph over death. I would leave my imprint not in sand, but in cement.”

15. Why Clone Humans? Jack Barker, Minneapolis marketing specialist, 36, says, “’I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t need a partner but can still have a child,’ he says. ‘A clone would be the perfect child to have because I know exactly what I’m getting.” “Cloning, he hopes, might even let him improve on the original: ‘I have had bad allergies and asthma. It would be nice to have a kid like you but with those improvements.” p. 55.

16. Why Clone Humans? • Why not? We’re just another animal species? • Children for childless couples

17. Why Clone Humans? Some have suggested that cloning could replace a deceased child

18. Why Clone Humans? Cloning could create extra copies of desirous individuals

19. Biblical Principles • Genesis 1:26-28 • Created in God’s Image • Therefore we are distinct from the animals • Stewardship • Exhortation to be fruitful and multiply

20. Naturalistic/Evolutionary Principles • An organism’s sole purpose is to survive and reproduce • We are just another animal species • The species persists through time

21. What is Life? • There is no clear-cut definition for what is life. And this is something, I think, that society is going to have to think about, is going to have to make some definitions. And those definitions may not be permanent, they may change as new technologies are developed. There is a fine line, and the line, at the early stages, is really based on your intentions of what they are to be used for as opposed to necessarily what they are.

22. What is Life? • So the question of what is life seems to change, I think, in people’s minds based on what their concerns are or their own interests are in how we might use whatever it is we are producing. • James Robl, Quoted in The Cloning Revolution, Films for the Humanities and Sciences (1998)

23. Violation of Human Dignity • Distinctions between man and animals • Child becomes a thing to be designed, sold and marketed

24. Human Experimentation No matter how much animal experimentation is done, human embryos will be sacrificed

25. Cloned Expectations • People cloned for certain traits will have high expectations • Clones are identical twins, not parent and child

26. Summary • Tremendous waste of human life at embryonic stages. • Degradation of human dignity - humans designed/created for purposes other than procreation. • Dangerous family situations • Unwise personal expectations • Beneficial research goals achievable by other means.

27. The drive toward human cloning is being powered by a selfish mythical right to total reproductive freedom and further fueled by a profound lack of moral courage on the part of science and society. We are unwilling to say that there are some experiments we will not perform.

28. Questions about Cloning • Will Clones be unique individuals? • Does a clone have to start as a baby? • Will cloning affect genetic diversity? • Can homosexuals use cloning to have children? • Will clones have a soul?

30. What Are Stem Cells? • Stem cells are specialized cells that can produce several different kinds of cells • Just like the stem of a plant will produce branches, leaves, and flowers, so stem cells can usually produce many different kinds of cells.

31. What Are Adult Stem Cells? • Over one trillion cells in your body. Most will only divide a few times. • Specialized stem cells continually produce new cells in certain tissues. • There are skin, bone marrow, liver, muscle, etc. stem cells. • These are adult stem cells. • No ethical difficulties

32. What Are Embryonic Stem Cells? • Blastocyst – Inner Cell Mass • The Inner Cell Mass eventually forms all the cells of the body. These are embryonic stem cells (ESC). • In order to retrieve them, the embryo is destroyed. • Human ESC have been obtained from leftover embryos from fertility clinics – potential immune rejection • Many researchers attempt to refer to these as simply “reproductive cells.

33. What Can Stem Cells Be Used For? • It is hoped that stem cells can be used to treat and even cure diseases like diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer's, and brain and spinal injuries. • Embryonic stem cells offer the most hope since we know they can become any cell in the body.

34. The Promise of Adult Stem Cells • You can harvest adult stem cells from the individual to be treated. Therefore, there are no rejection problems. • Adult stem cells can switch tissues. • Adult stem cells migrate throughout the body in the blood. • The discovery of the “ultimate adult stem cell” was announced 1/23/02

35. The Promise of Adult Stem Cells • In 2003 the National Institutes of Health spent $190 million on adult stem cell research and $25 million on embryonic stem cell research • Clinical trials are already underway using bone marrow (adult) stem cells for treatment of heart attacks, liver disease, diabetes, bone and cartilage disease and brain disorders. • Adult stem cells can even be injected intravenously in large quantities and they will migrate to where the injury is located.

36. The Problem with Embryonic Stem Cells • The embryo must be destroyed. • The proper chemical signals to direct stem cells to turn into the cells you want are unknown. • Human ESC have been coaxed to differentiate but . . . • Immune rejection • In China a man with Parkinson's was treated with human ES cells which turned into a tumor (teratoma) in his brain that killed him. • The power of ESCs is also the source of their peril.

37. The Ethical Dilemma • Embryonic Stem Cells (ESC) possess uncertain promise • The use of ESC requires the death of the embryo. • All therapies with any kind of stem cell are experimental and may not work. • Too much is being promised. • Coverage in the media has been biased and inaccurate. • The medical community is largely chaffing against any limits at all.

38. The Humanity of the Unborn • The Argument from Biology • It is a human life at conception • The fertilized egg contains 46 chromosomes in a new and unique configuration. • Fertilization begins a directional process. • Separate from the mother, genetically distinct

39. The Humanity of the Unborn • Argument from Scripture • “Thou shalt not murder.” (Exo. 20:13) • Hebrew and Greek do not distinguish between pre-born and born children • God’s intimate involvement in the development and life of the pre-born infant (Ps. 139: 13-16)

40. Humanity of the Unborn • Psalm 139:13-16 • Isaiah 49:1 • Psalm 51:5 • Jeremiah 1:5 • Luke 1:39-44

41. Saving Lives! • Clinical trials are already testing the treatment of Parkinson’s using gene therapy and adult stem cells. • Alzheimer’s is likely not treatable by stem cells. • When we think about saving lives we must count the cost. • Is relieving the symptoms of disease worth the cost of the lives of the weakest and most defenseless members of society? • “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'”

42. The Problem with Therapeutic Cloning • In order to avoid the immune rejection problem with ESC, many want to clone the affected individual and use the ESC from their clone • Treats the human embryo as a thing, a clump of cells before 14 days and beyond according to the new law in New Jersey. • The basis of this ethic is strictly “the end justifies the means.” • Even the term “therapeutic” is problematic. The subject is destroyed. • Supposedly more ethical than reproductive cloning, the aim of which is at least to produce life.

43. The Future? • If we allow federal funding of ESC research, we have stated that our government supports research at any cost to human life deemed less than worthy as long as we can think of a “good” reason. • We would therefore endorse the view that “the end justifies the means.”

44. Cloning and Stem Cell Fraud • South Korean researcher Woo Suk Hwang and colleagues published two papers in Science (March 12, 2004 and June 17, 2005) claiming to have cloned human embryos and harvested ES cell lines specific to patients with degenerative diseases. • January 20, 2006 Science retracted both papers citing significant evidence of fabricated evidence. • No stem cell lines were produced and while cloning was successful, the efficiency was half of what they reported. • Stem cell research dealt a crippling blow.