30th April, 2007
GLYNIS QUINLAN

They say that truth is stranger than fiction but sometimes it can take a fictional story to throw a light on some of the ‘strangeness’ or ills of human behaviour. Such is the case when you consider the parallels between the Australian push for embryonic cloning for research purposes and last year’s 'New Earth’ episode from the popular BBC series Doctor Who.

A DR WHO FUTURE? Glynis Quinlan finds disturbing comprisons between a Dr Who episode and Australia's push for embryonic cloning. PICTURE: Klaus Post (www.sxc.hu).

A strange comparison, you might say, and you’d have a case. Certainly there are huge differences between the two. However, read some of the Doctor Who plot and it might bring to mind a familiar theme.

In the ‘New Earth’ episode the Doctor goes to the Planet New Earth and visits an alien-run hospital which heals thousands of human patients of all different races – including those suffering from previously incurable diseases. What is the horrifying secret behind the hospital?

Eventually the Doctor discovers the sinister method used to develop the cures. In a separate part of the hospital are hundreds of individual pods containing artificially grown human beings. Each has been infected with hundreds of diseases, and is seen as part of a human farm to breed cures. If one becomes able to speak or move, they are instantly killed.

When the Doctor, confronts the head of the hospital about this ghastly practice, she argues that the artificial humans are just ‘flesh’ and that the practice was necessary to cope with the influx of patients and diseases. Needless to say, the good Doctor puts an end to the horrible process, manages to cure the artificially-grown human beings, and sets everything right. Viewers can breathe a sigh of relief.

Zap back to 21st century Australia and there is little relief in sight. Here, in late 2006 the Federal Parliament voted to allow the cloning of human embryos for research purposes, as long as they are destroyed before they are 14 days old. These human embryos, like Dolly the Sheep, have the potential to be born as a baby, but instead are destined only for experimentation and death. In a further twist, it is legal to use aborted female foetuses as a source of eggs for cloning. In other words, making an aborted baby girl the ‘mother’ of an embryo which will then be destroyed in research!

And the reason this once banned practice has now been allowed by Federal Parliament? It’s because of the chance of finding potential cures for diseases. The argument works along the lines that the ‘ends justify the means’ in a similar way to the Doctor Who plot. Only, unfortunately, this is real life.

Some would point to the fact that we are dealing with cloned embryos, not adult human ‘guinea pigs’. However in each of those cloned embryos is the potential for a baby to grow if it was placed in a woman’s womb. It is really about creating life and then destroying it, with the sole purpose being the possible development in the future of a cure for someone else. This despite the fact that adult stem cells have proven to be far more successful in research to date and don’t involve any destruction of embryos.

However, there is another key step in the process before last December’s Federal legislation can take effect. First the states have to pass similar legislation to allow cloning in their jurisdiction.

At present, every state has laws banning human cloning. These date back to 2002 when the federal and state parliaments agreed that cloning was wrong. Because the federal parliament has now voted in favour of human cloning, the states are considering whether to amend their legislation so that it matches the new federal laws.

Victoria and Western Australia have already introduced cloning bills into their parliaments and, despite some strong opposition, a bill has already passed Victoria’s Lower House. Queensland and South Australia have also indicated that they will be introducing cloning bills and it is likely that other states will follow.

However the story doesn’t have to end here. There is still the potential for the bills to be blocked and embryonic cloning to be stopped. Quite a number of State politicians have already spoken out passionately on the topic and campaigning is well underway on a number of different fronts.

For our part, the Australian Christian Lobby has been lobbying State parliamentarians on the issue, making comment to the media, and has set up a campaign on our Make A Stand website. If you’d like to take part, please visit the Human Cloning NO! campaign at www.makeastand.org.au and email your state politicians to ask them not to change their current state laws banning human cloning. You might also like to consider visiting your local MP, writing a letter to the editor of your closest major newspaper or even participating in talkback radio.

Remember if embryonic cloning (or ‘somatic cell nuclear transfer’, as the scientists call it) was so clearly wrong in 2002 that the Federal and State parliaments unanimously banned it, how can it be ‘right’ now? Nothing significant has changed in the science but the ethical problems remain the same. This is the type of ‘new world’ we really don’t want to create.

Glynis Quinlan is the public relations manager for the Australian Christian Lobby.