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.
- Nicholas Wade, "Company Touts Cross-Species Technique With
Potential to Renew Body Parts," New York Times (November
12, 1998)
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/ask_reporters/articles/sci-cell.html)
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.
- Rick Weiss, "Cloning Firm Is Accused of Ignoring Its Ethics
Board," Washington Post (July 14, 2001)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59346-2001Jul13 - Kimberly Durnan, "Cloned Ox, From Rare Species, Dies,"
Associated Press (January 12, 2001)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/ndsfri05.htm
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.
- Jose B. Cibelli, Robert P. Lanza, Michael D. West, Carol
Ezzell, "The First Human Cloned Embryo," Scientific
American (November 24, 2001), http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0008B8F9-AC62-1C75-
9B81809EC588EF21 - Jose B. Cibelli et al, "Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer in
Humans: Pronuclear and Early Embryonic Development," e-Biomed:
The Journal of Regenerative Medicine (Vol. 2, November 26,
2001)page 25-31
http://giorgio.catchword.com/vl=68363422/cl=21/nw=1/rpsv/catchword/
mal/15248909/v2n5/s5/p25)
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
- Company website
http://www.advancedcell.com/ - "Cloning: Huckster or Hero? Michael West's optimistic
predictions and unorthodox approach to promoting Advanced Cell
Technology have tripped him up"
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2002/sb20020620_1794.htm - Amy Contrada, "Cloning at Worcester’s ACT Supported by Mass.
Congressional Delegation," Massachusetts News (January
2002) - ACT President Michael West doesn't deny his support for
reproductive cloning.
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2001/dec%202001/1231clone.htm - The chair of ACT's "ethics advisory board," Ronald Green of
Dartmouth, supports reproductive cloning.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/artsci/ethics-inst/Ronald.M.Green_CV.pdf - John Travis, "Human-Cloning Claim Creates Controversy,"
Science News (December 1, 2001) - The scientific community
is in general not supportive of ACT's initiative.
http://www.sciencenews.org/20011201/fob2.asp
Geron
- Company website
http://www.geron.com/ - Patent Watch Project - Disclosure of a pending patent to Geron
Corp. that would cover cloned human embryos and fetuses
http://www.icta.org/intelprop/temp.htm - David Shook, "A Bold Biotech Play for the Extremely Patient,"
Business Week (October 27, 2000) - Summary of Geron's
research program on stem cells and cloning: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/oct2000/nf20001027_461.htm
- Matthew Herper, "Brave New World: Stem Cells And Cloning,"
Forbes (June 12, 2001) - Geron and ACT are considering
combining stem-cells and cloning technologies despite the
controversy.
http://www.forbes.com/2001/06/12/0612dnabrave.html
- Matthew Herper, "Geron's Cloning Quandary ," Forbes
(April 5, 2001) - Geron's business model is a risky one.
http://www.forbes.com/2001/04/05/0305cloning.html - Denise Gellene, "Biotech Companies Trying to Milk Cloning for
Profit," Los Angeles Times (December 16, 2001) - Geron's
CEO says the company is not interested in therapeutic cloning
because "The process is a nonstarter, commercially."
[ Resources >> Items >> "Biotech Companies Trying to Milk Cloning for Profit" ]
Chromos
- Company website
http://www.chromos.com/ - Brian Alexander, "The Remastered Race," Wired (Vol 10,
No. 5, May 2002) - Artificial chromosomes are seen as having a
potential role in in the engineering of future humans.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.05/eugenics.html - "Chromos enters collaboration agreement with MorphoGen
Pharmaceuticals," BioExchange (April 24, 2002) - Chromos
and Morphogen Pharmaceuticals collaborate, merging stem-cell
technologies and artificial chromosomes.
http://www.bioexchange.com/news/news_page.cfm?id=11439 - "Major Step Forward for Gene Therapy," BBC News
(October 21, 1999) - The development of artificial chromosomes is
described as a major breakthrough in genetic science that paves
the way for germline therapy in humans.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_480000/480795.stm - Gregory Stock, "Point of View," Biofutur (No. 178,
April 15, 1998) - Stock advocates germline engineering and
suggests that artificial chromosomes are the technology that will
ultimately make germline engineering feasible.
http://research.mednet.ucla.edu/pmts/biofutur.htm
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
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