Singapore theologians warn on ’semi-cloning’

Catholic moral theologians have raised concerns after news broke that Singapore scientists have become the first to “semi-clone” an animal by fertilizing an egg with an embryonic stem cell that mimics sperm.

The breakthrough by scientists at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Biological Sciences could help treat infertility, according to an Oct. 17 press release on the university’s website, UCA News reports.

According to this and other local media reports, the scientists have successfully “semi-cloned” a Medaka fish, which they have named “Holly.”

What they did was to take eggs from one fish and sperm from another. The sperm cells were then bombarded with ultraviolet rays to remove their DNA code and then used to fertilize the eggs.

Since only one set of DNA was in the eggs, their resulting division created haploid cells, which were combined with eggs of another fish to produce Holly. Unlike traditional cloning, this method resulted in the creation of an animal that is not an exact clone of its parent.

The technique now opens up the possibility of creating haploid cells from an infertile man, who would then be able pass on his DNA.

Speaking to UCA News, Dominican Fr David Garcia and diocesan Fr James Yeo said the semi-cloning of Holly itself does not raise any real bioethical problems as it was done on animals for the purpose of research. However they warned of ethical implications if the technique were to be used on human beings.

Fr Yeo said the cloning of plants and animals have existed for some time in horticulture, agriculture and animal husbandry. So far, he said, no studies have shown that such cloning poses any risk.

It is a different matter if such techniques were to be used for human cloning, however.

Fr Yeo said the Catholic Church is against the cloning of humans, whether through semi-cloning or established cloning technology, as these make a person an object of manipulation and violates human dignity.

Fr Garcia said that if the semi-cloning technique were to be “extended to humans, it would be a case of artificial reproduction … which just like IVF (in vitro fertilization), the Church deems ethically wrong and morally illicit.”