Zygotes and People Aren't Quite the Same

The New York Times ^ | 04/25/2002 | MICHAEL S. GAZZANIGA

[Pokey78]

HANOVER, N.H.
When President Bush convened his advisory panel on bioethics in January, he told those of us serving on it to engage in that age-old technique of intellectual exploration called debate. "That's what I want," he said. "You haven't heard a debate until you have heard Colin Powell and Don Rumsfeld go at it."

So it was a surprise when, on April 10, the president announced his decision to ban cloning of all kinds. His opinions appeared fully formed even though our panel has yet to prepare a final report and will be voting on the crucial point of biomedical cloning — which produces cells to be used in researching and treating illnesses. While it is true that the president's position is one held by some of the members of the panel, not all agree.

Most people are now aware that medical scientists put cloning in two different categories. Biomedical cloning is distinct from reproductive cloning, the process by which a new human being might be grown from the genetic material of a single individual. At this point, no scientist or ethicist I know supports reproductive cloning of human beings. The debate is solely about biomedical cloning for lifesaving medical research.

Scientists prefer to call biomedical cloning somatic cell nuclear transfer, because that is what it is. Any cell from an adult can be placed in an egg whose own nucleus has been removed and given a jolt of electricity. This all takes place in a lab dish, and the hope is that this transfer will allow the adult cell to be reprogrammed so that it will form a clump of approximately 150 cells called a blastocyst. This will be harvested for the stem cells it contains.

At this point we encounter a conflation of ideas, beliefs and facts. Some religious groups and ethicists argue that the moment of transfer of cellular material is an initiation of life and establishes a moral equivalency between a developing group of cells and a human being. This point of view is problematic when viewed with modern biological knowledge.

We wouldn't consider this clump of cells even equivalent to an embryo formed in normal human reproduction. And we now know that in normal reproduction as many as 50 percent to 80 percent of all fertilized eggs spontaneously abort and are simply expelled from the woman's body. It is hard to believe that under any religious belief system people would grieve and hold funerals for these natural events. Yet, if these unfortunate zygotes are considered human beings, then logically people should.

Moreover, the process of a single zygote splitting to make identical twins can occur until at least 14 days after fertilization. Also, divided embryos can recombine back into one. How could we possibly identify a person with a single fertilized egg?

Modern scientific knowledge of the fertilization process serves as the basis for the British government's approval of biomedical cloning and embryo research. Britain does not grant moral status to an embryo until after 14 days, the time when all the twinning issues cease and the embryo must be implanted into the uterus to continue developing.

The blastocyst, the biological clump of cells produced in biomedical cloning, is the size of the dot on this i. It has no nervous system and is not sentient in any way. It has no trajectory to becoming a human being; it will never be implanted in a woman's uterus. What it probably does have is the potential for the cure of diseases affecting millions of people.

When I joined the panel, officially named the President's Council on Bioethics, I was confident that a sensible and sensitive policy might evolve from what was sure to be a cacophony of voices of scientists and philosophers representing a spectrum of opinions, beliefs and intellectual backgrounds. I only hope that in the end the president hears his council's full debate.

Dr. Michael S. Gazzaniga is director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth College.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Zygotes and People Aren't Quite the Same

Yes, as a doctor, I can attest to the fact that people are definitely bigger.

[gov_bean_ counter]

It is hard to believe that under any religious belief system people would grieve and hold funerals for these natural events. Yet, if these unfortunate zygotes are considered human beings, then logically people should.

Couples for whom this happens 100% do grieve with sobs so deep only the Creator of all life can understand.

[traditionalist]

It is hard to believe that under any religious belief system people would grieve and hold funerals for these natural events. Yet, if these unfortunate zygotes are considered human beings, then logically people should.

I am the father of a miscarried child, and I cried and when it happened. And it was only the first time my wife was pregnent. The Church of the Holy Innocents in New York has a registry in which people who lose babies before birth can enter a name for the child (we gave ours a name after the miscarriage), and an order of nuns prays for the parents daily. I still think about our lost baby from time to time and ask him or her to pray for me.

[supercat]

What would be the moral implications, if any, if someone were to transplant DNA into something other than a zygote (say, a nerve cell) which could reproduce itself, but which would not under any reasonable circumstances produce a human being? Would there be any ethical problems with such a thing, or would it be acceptable on the basis that a nerve cell is not a human being?

[mfulstone]

Zygotes and People Aren't Quite the Same

Neither are children and adults quite the same...

[jwalsh07]

I have seen my wife miscarry, my Mom miscarry and my daughter miscarry. They all grieved the same way. The tears were real and the grief was heartfelt. As were mine.

[FreedomFriend]

The New York Times should be ashamed of itself. MOre pro-Baby killing nonsense. I'm sick and tired of the nonsense they publish. It has no common sense. A child is a child from conception. It is still life. These infanticide supporters need to look to the truth, for they're so far disconnected from it.

[weikel]

But zygotes don't think or feel pain nor are they self aware( I know I will get flamed but those are facts they have no nervous system and its impossible for them to).

[AppyPappy]

Neither do people in comas. But we don't kill them.

[traditionalist]

Niether are people who are asleep.

[weikel]

Appy is right about people in comas but you are wrong about people who are asleep neurological activity continues.

[Malacoda]

When I miscarried at eight weeks, our Catholic Church allowed us to plan and celebrate a full funeral Mass. My husband and I grieved -- our families grieved with us.

The loss of a child, no matter how small, is terrible.

[J.R.R. Tolkien]

So are baby toes smaaler than adult toes?

[Askel5]

mark