Deep Dives Research Challenge – The controversy of human cloning

Human cloning is a subject that has been widely explored in a lot of fiction works over the years, with several books and movies whose plot revolves about cloning activities, and this is something that can provide a lot of food for thought given the fact there are a lot of implications in the possibility of artificially creating another human being.

There have also been false claims over the years, of people being able to actually clone humans, like the South Korean scientist called Woo Suk Hwang who convinced the world he has figured out a way to achieve human cloning, only that his claim was completely fraudulent and said cloning never actually took place ^Source. My guess in this case is that there is a part of the world that wants to accept human cloning as something real because there is a strong fascination (and maybe some fear) about its possibilities, and that might have been the reason this South Korean fellow decided to try to deceive the world, being the first scientist in cloning a human being would make that individual an unforgettable historical figure, so perhaps he got carried away by his need of being recognized, and ended up becoming a fraud.

Because of these reasons, I decided to do some research in the Wikileaks archive for any document that could be related to this subject, and unsurprisingly there wasn’t too much information available because the majority of the leaks were about legal issues regarding this activity, however that doesn’t mean there aren’t leaks where human cloning claims were mentioned.

What did Wikileaks documents said about human cloning?

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The only extensive leak I could found in the Wikileaks database was this one from the Congressional Research Service which according to the official website “is well-known for analysis that is authoritative, confidential, objective and nonpartisan. Its highest priority is to ensure that Congress has 24/7 access to the nation’s best thinking”. Source

In the document, it is mentioned the existence of a sect that claims to have cloned several humans in a clandestine way through its organization called Clonaid. The sect in question is called Raëlism and they believe our race is not the product of evolution, but the result of an extraterrestrial experiment, as it usually happens in these cases, no proof is provided and all the beliefs of these people are simply based on the claims of the leader and founder of the sect, Claude Vorilhon. The only part about this section of the document that might draw some attention is the following:

Dr. Brigette Boisselier, Managing Director of Clonaid, stated that genetic tests would show that the baby is the clone of the 31-year-old American woman who is the birth mother. To date the test results have not been released | Source

In this case there 2 clear possibilities:

1. It might be a real case of human cloning, but since these people belong to a sect with the potential indoctrination and manipulation that is very common in these situations, it is very unlikely that they are telling the truth. But the claim is there, and it has been reported in official documents.
2. The second possibility is they are simply lying, like the case with the South Korean scientist. It might be to gain attention and bring new followers, or simply a way to self-deceive themselves.

It is important for people who decide to do further researches on their own, that there are 2 different types of cloning. When speaking about human cloning the first thought that we might have is of an actual human being, alive and able to function like any other person. But the truth is that is just one type of cloning called “reproductive cloning”, and it is this method the one that is illegal in the majority of the countries. The other cloning method is called therapeutic cloning, it “refers to the removal of a nucleus, which contains the genetic material, from virtually any cell of the body (a somatic cell) and its transfer by injection into an unfertilised egg from which the nucleus has also been removed”. | Source

In the wikileaks documents, there is also the mention about another scientist called Severino Antinori who claimed to have cloned 3 human beings, according to a report in the telegraph he said “I helped give birth to three children with the human cloning technique”. | Source Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to provide proofs of his claims, but in 2016 he was arrested for abusing a woman with the goal of stealing her eggs. “According to Italian investigators, the Spanish woman, who was temporarily working at Dr Antinori's Matris clinic in Milan, had her mobile phone taken and was forcibly immobilised and anaesthetised before her eggs were harvested.” | Source

The only reason I could think of this doctor doing something as extreme as physically assaulting a woman in such a bizarre way, is the hypothesis that he is involved in underground activities related to human cloning, or at least, experimentation with cloning methods. This person has another clinic in Rome called International Associated Research Institute for Human Reproduction (RAPRUI), and as a fun fact the distance between this clinic and the Vatican itself it not that much, only an 8 minute drive according to Google Maps.

Screenshot I took from Google maps

There are in fact, several public individuals that constantly talk about the existence of an underground network of human cloning activities, involving all sort of powerful people around the world, for example, Donald Marshall is a person who became famous for insisting he has insider information about this issue, but so far none of his claims have been confirmed, I tried to find something about Donald Marshall in the Wikileaks archives but couldn’t find anything.

On the other hand, the Vatican itself is already pondering about the possibility of the existence of clones, trying to make everything they can to forbid the creation of these type of beings:

THE HOLY SEE FULLY SUPPORTED US EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE A COMPREHENSIVE BAN ON HUMAN CLONING BECAUSE WE SHARE THE SAME STRONG MORAL CONCERNS | Source

It is completely understandable for religious institutions to be against human beings creating other human beings, not only because all the problems the clone might have in his life, but there is also the religious factor, a person capable of creating another person could certainly erase credibility across religions regarding the way they see life and the origin of it. However, they are not against the clones themselves (if they exist) but rather they are just against the process of cloning, in the end, any clone that is brought into existence is not to blame for everything, they would be completely innocent beings.

COTTIER AFFIRMED THE VATICAN POSITION THAT CLONING IS IMMORAL IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE. HOWEVER, HE STRESSED THAT HUMAN BEINGS THAT RESULT FROM CLONING PROCEDURES MUST BE CONSIDERED EQUAL TO ANY OTHER PERSON IN REGARD TO RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES… COTTIER FIRMLY DISMISSED THE POSSIBILITY OF A SUB-HUMAN RACE OF CLONES. | Source

Final thoughts

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The rest of the information available on Wikileaks is about the legal issues involved in these procedures, as mentioned before, one type of cloning is partially accepted (therapeutic cloning) and the other one is widely rejected (reproductive cloning), as well as mentions about moral issues regarding any potential cloning activity that might happen.

Human cloning might or might not be happening right now, but the idea is certainly out there, causing all sort of discussions and debates, and the fact there are doctors that have specialized knowledge doing illegal things to acquire what they need for their activities can be seen as something very suspicious.

With time, I am sure there will be more leaks about a subject as important as this one, and as science continues advancing, the available cloning procedures and techniques involved will become more sophisticated and one way or another, further controversial events will keep happening and being reported.

Please feel free to share your thoughts about this, and thank you very much for reading.

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Leaks used:

wikileaks - Congressional Research Service - Human cloning

wikileaks - VATICAN CONDEMNS CLONING BUT PROTECTS THE CLONES

wikileaks - VATICAN ON CLONING CONVENTION: DON'T MAKE THE IDEAL THE ENEMY OF THE GOOD