Badpuppy Gay Today

Monday, 21 April 1997

Addressing members of the media at the National Press Club Building, Dr. Ian Wilmut, Dolly the sheep's Scottish cloner, spoke to the controversial issues surrounding his startling feat, including specific comments aimed at cloning activists like Clone Rights United Front that celebrate the possibility of human cloning. Witmut says he's now working to secure more funding for the cloning research that lies ahead.

"Neither we nor the subject are going to go away," he said, "In a few months time there will be some new results from our lab. I'm sure there will be other labs now working in this area and we will then be pleased to talk to you about our work and other peoples' work."

Wilmut, approaching human cloning, went into a protracted silence, a clear indication the topic disturbed him. He said:

"Mention has already been made of the idea of using the idea of nuclear transfer to copy people. This is probably the aspect or application that has been written about most since the story was first publicized. And I expect by now that most of you have heard me say that as far as I'm concerned I have still not heard an application for this technology which involves copying a person which I find ethically acceptable.

"And there are two reasons for this. One is that in many cases I think its actually a misunderstanding, that the suggestion is based upon a misunderstanding that what people are trying to do is trying to bring back a person who suddenly has passed away, perhaps a child, perhaps a parent, much loved and sadly missed. It is simply not possible to do that. If you use this technique to produce a new individual they might be born to a different mother, they would certainly be born in a different age and I think most important of all, I think they would be treated as a different individual. There would be no possibility that you could treat that little person, that child in a normal way. So I think that it is a gross misunderstanding to think that you could use this technique for many of the applications that have been suggested.

"But I've already mentioned the main reason why I personally would find it unacceptable and that is because I think that each one of us deserves to be treated as an individual and I would urge anybody who is thinking of using this technique to make a new person to ask themselves that question. Can you really think, can you really believe that you would be able to treat that person as an individual? Because if you cannot, I don't think you should do it, and I personally, don't think you could treat them as an individual. They would be there as a copy and therefore not as an individual and to me that is the reason why it would be unacceptable."`

Clone Rights United Front, the first organization in the world favorably promoting the concept of human cloning, reacted immediately to Dr. Wilmut's statements. The Front's Public Relation's Director, Randolfe Wicker, who is also an historic figure in the American gay movement, told GayToday:

"Its so funny, because frankly I agree with him one-hundred percent on the first part. His first point is very well taken. I think the idea that you would clone a dying child to have a copy or, sadly, you'd clone your father to bring back a dead relative, I think he's absolutely right on that aspect.

"But I one-hundred percent disagree with him on the second. The idea that if you clone somebody you would always look at them as a copy is a little bit overdone. The fact of the matter, as I said earlier, that you start relating to a person, even though its your clone, you'd start noticing different things. Gee, my clone is more gregarious than I am, my clone is more socially adept than I was, and you're no longer going to deal with somebody as a category. The minute a clone is born, its no longer a clone, its an individual. And in your interaction with that person, you're going to drop these categories that people have in their minds.

"You start talking with someone, you realize that this is an individual and you start getting feelings for what they're saying and their interaction with you. And as you interact more and more, the categories fade away, whether its somebody who is middle-class or lower-class or upper-class or intelligent, or stupid, someone who shares your values or disagrees with you on a lot of things, and there are all sorts of other parameters that are much more important than the initial vision that "Oh, I'm starting to talk to a clone or a gay person or a black person or whatever category you want to put on it, I think those things disappear in the interaction between people."

Wicker gave more reasons he stands up for the future of human cloning. "It wouldn't hurt of to have twelve Bill Gates, or twelve Einsteins or twelve Mozarts. They seem to be one in a million. So even though cloning is only one-half of one percent of reproduction, it doesn't affect the genetic pool and all that, just imagine, the impact could be enormous! I mean, just imagine having clones with the abilities of twelve Einsteins working for you in World War II instead of one. It was admittedly his personality too, but still you're dealing with someone who obviously had the abilities of a genius."

Clone Rights United Front has garnered international publicity for its pro-cloning stance. In the gay press, said Wicker, especially the major newsmagazines, OUT magazine has, thus far, managed the most balanced coverage. The Advocate, he believes, has faltered, not only in its presentation of facts but because of its obvious anti-cloning bias. Wicker himself was, for two years, a 1970's New York correspondent for The Advocate. Other publications that have done balanced reportage, he says, include The Baltimore Alternative and Miami's Metro Magazine, (now included in the barguide, Hot Spots) both of which have been non-judgmental about cloning.

Clone Rights United Front members are much given to singing "Hello Dolly," and in celebration of the virgin birth of the cloned sheep, Dolly, cloning activists have manufactured exotic post cards and 5-color buttons that show a seated robe-clad sheep, a sunburst at her back and reading, "Dolly Lama: Our New Spiritual Leader!" Copies are available from Clone Rights United Front, 506 Hudson Street, New York, N.Y. 10014.