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The biotechnology industry as a whole does not yet have a major investment in explicitly eugenic applications such as reproductive cloning and germline modification. There is no reason that responsible corporate leaders in the biotech sector could not agree to support bans on the most dangerous eugenic technologies while affirming their commitment to medical applications that meet with general social approval.

To date such corporate leadership has not been evident. In the late 1990's in the United States the Biotech Industry Orgnaization (BIO) declared its opposition to reproductive human cloning, but opposed legislation that would make this practice illegal. When it finally agreed to support legislation to ban reproductive cloning, it called for the legislation to sunset after ten years.

BIO finally agreed to back legislation that would permanently ban reproductive cloning as part of a strategy to defeat Congressional action against research cloning. Although only a handful of firms or scientists in the U.S. have expressed interest in using human cloning technology for research, the biotechnology industry as a whole has mounted a major effort to block legislation that would ban it.

Key small biotechnology firms developing potentially eugenic technologies

Although industry-wide investment in explicitly eugenic technologies is minimal, several small firms have made these technologies their focus. In most instances these technologies have acceptable medical applications, and would be less controversial if laws proscribing their eugenic applications and providing for regulatory oversight were in place. To date the leadership of these firms have not demonstrated a commitment to avoid crossing the dangerous threshold of germline engineering. Several have declared their opposition to reproductive cloning, but others have not. Many have established internal "ethics advisory committees," but these are widely considered to be elements of a public relations strategy rather than a real check on corporate behavior.

Small biotech firms developing potentially eugenic technologies include:

Advanced Cell Technologies (ACT) [Worcester, MA] - ACT's current president, Michael West, joined in 1996 after leaving Geron Corporation, which he founded, in a dispute. ACT has been marked by controversy ever since:

In 1999 ACT claimed to have created the first bovine-human embryo. It was widely criticized for attempting the experiment in the first place, and for misrepresenting the results.

In 2001 ACT announced the birth of a cloned guar (an endangered species of ox), but died just days later. Following this death two members of ACT's ethics advisory board resigned in protest over not having been told of the experiment.

In December 2001, ACT claimed to have created the first clonal human embryo. Following this announcement, two members of the board of the on-line journal that published the ACT announcement resigned. Since then the announcement of the experiment has been widely dismissed by the scientific community as a publicity ploy intended to help raise venture capital.

Despite these repeated violations of scientific and business ethics, ACT has been lauded by journalists, U.S. Senators and others.

Geron Corporation [Menlo Park, CA] - Geron holds the patents to the somatic cell nuclear transfer technology developed by the Roslin Corporation to clone the sheep Dolly.

In 1999 Geron denied a report in the Washington Post that it was involved in cloning human embryos. In 2002 the Wall St. Journal reported that Geron had, in fact, been funding and working closely with a University of California at San Francisco researcher on embryo cloning. A Geron spokesman stated that its earlier denial had been "semantic."

Geron also owns important patents for stem cell culture techniques and teleomerase gene sequences. Geron hopes to be among the first to develop therapeutic tissues derived from embryonic stem cells, but has decided that embryo cloning will never be a commercially viable component of stem cell therapies.

Chromos Corporation [Burnaby, BC] - Chromos is developing artificial human chromosomes. If successful these could increase the efficiency of somatic gene therapy applications. If used for germline applications, however, they would have profound implications. If a person carrying an extra chromosome wished to pass that chromosome to their children, they would need to mate with a partner carrying the same extra chromosome. Evolutionary biologists consider such "reproductive isolation" to be the major defining characteristic of a separate species. "Artificial chromosomes could cure diseases," New Scientist (July 8, 2000) http://www.globaltechnoscan.com/19thJuly-25thJuly/artificial_chromosomes.htm)

Related Articles

"Cloning Firms Stumble," Genetic Crossroads (#26, November 22, 2002)
Newsletter >> Archive >> Issue #26

"'Designer Baby' Advocate Gregory Stock Gives Keynote at Biotechnology Investment Conference," Genetic Crossroads (#25, October 25, 2002)
Newsletter >> Archive >> Issue #25

Andrew Pollack, "Use of Cloning to Tailor Treatment Has Big Hurdles, Including Cost, " The New York Times (December 18, 2001)
Resources >> Items >> "Use of Cloning to Tailor Treatment Has Big Hurdles, Including Cost"

Denise Gellene, "Biotech Companies Trying to Milk Cloning for Profit," Los Angeles Times (December 16, 2001)
Resources >> Items >> "Biotech Companies Trying to Milk Cloning for Profit"

Off-Site Links

BioSpace's Biotech Industry Resources - a comprehensive biotech industry website with links to many biotech corporation homepages, is:
http://www.biospace.com/industry/index.cfm

The Biotech Industry Lobby:

  • Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) - the major lobby for the biotechnology industry in the US.
    http://www.bio.org
  • Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) - the major biotech/biomedical lobbying organization working to defeat bans on research cloning
    http://www.camradvocacy.org/
  • American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) - the major professional/lobbying organization for the assisted reproduction industry
    http://www.asrm.org/

Vicky Brower, "Biotechs Embrace Bioethics" - BioSpace (June 14, 1999) - The use of "bioethics advisory committees" for public relations purposes is described in this article.
http://www.biospace.com/articles/061499_ethics.cfm

Joseph Coates, "Treatment of Disease in the 21st Century - Toward the Manipulatible Human/the Human as a Building Block," in Humans and Genetic Engineering in the New Millenium - How Are We Going to Get “Gen-Ethics” Just in Time? (Copenhagen: Danish Council of Ethics, 2000) - an example of the explicit promotion of reproductive cloning, germline manipulation and eugenic technologies in general as business opportunities is seen in this presentation by a business consultant.
http://www.etiskraad.dk/publikationer/genethics/ren.htm#kap01

Advanced Cell Technologies

Geron

Chromos

More Information

Perspectives: Explore various communities' concerns regarding human genetic technologies

Policies: Read about existing and potential regulations

Technologies: Learn the basic science and consider arguments for and against

Date modified: March 25, 2021