Cloning is the violation of human dignity

In 1998, a sub-committee on cloning was established within the Bioethics Committee. The sub-committee published its report Fundamental Thoughts on the Production of a Human Being by Cloning Technology (1) on November 17, 1999. This was the first report to deal with human cloning and its regulation.

The report highlighted two problems, namely, the “violation of human dignity” and the “safety problem.” With regard to the “violation of human dignity”, it makes two points: 1) Human cloning techniques may open the floodgates for the creation of people with a particular ability in order to attain a particular goal (“breeding of human beings”) and for regarding people as a means or a tool with which to attain a particular goal (“human beings as means or tools”). 2) While a cloned individual has a separate personhood from the donor of a somatic cell, he or she is constantly forced to be aware of his/her relationship to that donor. This is a violation of human rights, both for the cloned individual and for the donor. This problem, together with the “breeding of human beings” and “human beings as means or tools,” leads to a violation of respect for an individual’s free will and existence. It is totally against constitutional principles (“violation of respect for an individual”). 3) Human cloning is asexual reproduction. It deviates altogether from our basic understanding of human reproduction, and it is expected to cause confusion of the familial order, such as, e.g., the parent-child relationship.

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The Ethics of Human Cloning and the Sprout of Human Life (2004)
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