Human Cloning: Fact or Fiction in Secret Laboratories?

As of August 2023, there is no credible evidence to suggest that human cloning has taken place either publicly or secretly. While cloning technologies such as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) have been successfully used to clone animals, such as Dolly the sheep in 1996, the scientific and ethical challenges surrounding human cloning are significant.

Regulations and Ethical Concerns

Much of the world's scientific community and governments recognize these challenges. Most countries have strict regulations or outright bans on human cloning due to ethical concerns, including issues related to identity, consent, and the potential for exploitation. Additionally, the scientific community generally emphasizes the importance of ethical standards in research, making clandestine human cloning unlikely.

Understanding Cloning: A Closer Look

The concept of cloning is not as alien or difficult to grasp as it might seem. A clone is an individual that has the same genome upon conception as another individual. So, all identical twins are clones—two different people who shared the same genome at conception and may experience some genetic mutations over their lifetimes that make them different in small ways. It's important to note that while my definition technically isn't perfect, it captures the essence of the concept well enough for our discussion.

From a biological perspective, a bacteria reproduces by doubling itself and making two new genetically identical cells, which technically can be considered clones even though they were not “conceived” in the traditional sense. However, this type of asexual reproduction is quite different from the complex processes involved in mammalian cloning, such as SCNT.

Practical Challenges in Human Cloning

Given the scientific and ethical challenges, it's highly unlikely that human cloning is being conducted secretly. Very little cloning of primates, our closest relatives, has been done at all, and this is a key stepping-stone to human cloning. The practical reasons for cloning humans are also questionable, and the potential rewards do not justify the risks and ethical concerns. Even overcoming technical challenges, the biological and ethical barriers are significant.

On a more speculative note, if human cloning were indeed being conducted in secret, few would be in a position to know about or report it. In theory, there is no more barrier to cloning a human than any other mammal, and this has already been achieved with animals. However, cloning a human being in effect—birth from a surrogate mother—beyond proving that it can be done, would serve little practical purpose. The potential of human therapeutic organ cloning, such as growing a particular organ from the patient's own DNA, is much more compelling and useful compared to creating a full clone.

As the scientific community continues to debate the ethical and practical implications of human cloning, the topic remains highly controversial and largely theoretical. The search for credible information and evidence remains a key challenge in evaluating these claims and concerns.