University at Buffalo faculty with expertise in cults and the ethical, legal and social implications of human cloning are available to members of the media covering claims made by Clonaid and the controversy surrounding human cloning.
Summarized below is analysis and commentary from four UB faculty members.
CLONAID CULT DERIVED FROM FLYING-SAUCER CULTS ORIGINATING IN THE 1970S AND '80S, SAYS UB CULT EXPERT
The Raelians -- the cult behind Clonaid, the company claiming to have cloned a human being -- are a remnant of the "flying-saucer cults" that originated in the 1970s and '80s, according to cult expert Phillips Stevens, Jr., an associate professor of anthropology at the University at Buffalo.
Other cults with extraterrestrial themes included Heaven's Gate, whose members in 1995 committed suicide as a means to transport themselves to a flying saucer piloted by beings whom they believed created life, and Solar Temple, another suicide cult that originated simultaneously in Switzerland and Quebec, according to Stevens.
"Each of these flying-saucer cults believed extraterrestrials are at a level of existence that people on Earth should try to achieve, though the Raelians are not trying to escape the human level as the others were," Stevens says. "For the Raelians, the goal is achieved through the means of scientific reproduction."
From a historical perspective, what's most remarkable about the Raelian cult, Stevens says, is that its beliefs and actions "startlingly coincide" with one of the most hotly debated social and scientific issues of the day -- human cloning.
"They have a gimmick that has hit a nerve in Western thinking, one that has tremendous implications for society," Stevens says. "They're an oddball group that came along at the right time. They clearly have benefactors who support their pursuits."
Reports that the Raelians have 55,000 members worldwide are probably exaggerated, Stevens says, but he expects the worldwide media attention will attract new members to the group.
"One of the great myths about cults is that they are brutally coercive; the truth is most people join them quite voluntarily," Stevens says. The Raelians certainly will attract people curious about their ideology, but most of the people who choose to stay will do so because they receive some kind of social gratification."
"The social appeal of cult membership is often much stronger than the ideological appeal," Stevens adds.
HUMAN CLONING IS SCIENTIFCALLY AND MORALLY UNETHICAL, SAYS UB MEDICAL ETHICS EXPERT
Human cloning is both scientifically and morally unethical, says Stephen E. Wear, associate professor of medicine and director of the Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care at the University at Buffalo.
"Scientists should not be performing research on humans until they have a viable animal model," Wear says, "and we clearly don't have one at this point."
"Even if scientists do achieve a viable model for human cloning, this is not the sort of choice one person should be making for another," adds Wear, who is also an adjunct professor of philosophy. "A cloned person is more than eye color and bone structure. You're passing along temperament and a personality, you're making choices for another human being that one shouldn't be allowed to make."
Wear suggests that society heed the lesson of the ancient Greek notion of hubris, which cautions against arrogantly misusing one's power or place in society.
"We have the technology (for human cloning), but we don't have the wisdom to use it," Wear says. "One can assume that one day human cloning will be possible, but the question for a civilized society is whether it should be allowed and at what level should it be allowed."
THERAPEUTIC CLONING SHOULD BE LEGAL, SAYS MEDICAL LAW EXPERT
Lawmakers should consider the virtues of therapeutic cloning--the cloning of human embryos to use their stem cells for disease treatment--before imposing a ban on all human cloning, says Lee A. Albert, a University at Buffalo professor of law who specializes in legal aspects of medicine and health care.
"The case against human cloning is strong in terms of the great uncertainty about what it produces and what its benefits are for society, but therapeutic cloning has great promise for many serious human ailments," Albert says.
"We ought not to confuse the two," Albert adds. "We should differentiate by virtue of what they propose to accomplish and what their aims are--in the same way that we differentiate between totally just wars and totally unjust wars, for example."
SOCIETY MUST FACE ITS CLONING FEARS BEFORE ACCEPTING OR REJECTING HUMAN CLONING, SAYS UB RESEARCH CHIEF
News that a company named Clonaid may have used cloning techniques that resulted in the birth of a baby girl last week has raised a firestorm of controversy over the legal and ethical implications. But apart from medical issues, which future research will need to resolve, what is it about reproductive cloning that makes us so nervous? Jaylan Turkkan, vice president for research at the University at Buffalo, shares her thoughts.
* Cloning is likely to be misused by narcissists who want an identical reproduction of themselves. "A baby born through cloning techniques will be born in a different era, will be brought up in a different family, will be exposed to different nutrition, family/friends, education and life events than the adult DNA donor," Turkkan says. "He or she will be a unique person" who simply shares another's DNA, as does an identical twin.
* Clones will be used for replacement organs. A legal impossibility, according to Turkkan. "We should make every effort to protect human rights regardless of the genetic method by which a child is born. Murder is illegal -- and companies will not be allowed to sell children or adults for organ replacement."
* The fear factor. "What is it that gives us the willies about human cloning, no matter now objective and scientific we think we are?" she asks. "The idea of duality, either as an exact twin copy or as a polar opposite of ourselves, is central to human thought and culture. Carl Jung wrote about an archetypal Double as an "alter-ego" -- a rival, or dark and hidden part of our nature. It may not be human clones that frighten us, but a dark glimpse of ourselves.
"Before we accept or reject the technology of human reproductive cloning, in particular, or genetic engineering, generally, we must face head on what it is that makes us so uncomfortable," Turkkan says. "We still may disagree, but we will know what it is we are afraid of."
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