1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class as a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:09,799 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,560 Speaker 1: a show that believes there's no time like the present 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,639 Speaker 1: to learn about the past. I'm Gabe Bluzier, and in 5 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: this episode, we're talking about the first ever international treaty 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: to outlaw human cloning. The day was January twelfth, nineteen 7 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: European nations signed a pact prohibiting the cloning of human beings. 8 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: The historic signing took place in France, just a few 9 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:46,520 Speaker 1: hours after its president, Jacques Chirac called for an international 10 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 1: ban on research involving the genetic replication of humans. The 11 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: countries that signed the agreement represented roughly half of the 12 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: member nations of the Council of Europe, an organization founded 13 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: in the wake of World War two to protect democracy 14 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: and human rights in Europe. Of the Council's forty plus 15 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: member states, the following nineteen signed the ban on human 16 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: cloning Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Moldova, Norway, Portugal, Romania, 17 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Macedonia and Turkey. Scientific interest 18 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: in genetic replication arose in the late nineteenth century, at 19 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,959 Speaker 1: a time when genetics was largely still a theoretical science. 20 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: The word clone was coined in nineteen o three by 21 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:49,280 Speaker 1: plant physiologist Herbert Weber, and not long after some scientists 22 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: began practicing experimental embryology to create a clone for real. 23 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: In the nineteen twenties, German embryologist and Nobel laureate Hans 24 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: Spemon made strong progress on that front. He removed the 25 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: genetic material from an unfertilized salamander egg and then transferred 26 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 1: a nucleus from a donor cell into the empty egg. 27 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 1: The result was a salamander embryo with the exact same 28 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: genetic makeup is that of the donor or, in other words, 29 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: a clone. The technique Spemon pioneered, known as somatic cell 30 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: nuclear transfer or SCNT, was used again in nineteen fifty 31 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 1: three to clone northern leopard tadpoles. But the most famous 32 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: use of the nuclear transfer method by far occurred on 33 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: July five, nineteen ninety six. That's when Dolly the sheep, 34 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: the world's first mammal cloned from an adult semantic cell, 35 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: was born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland. The cloned lamb, 36 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,920 Speaker 1: which had been named after country singer Dolly Parton, was 37 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: formally introduced to the world a year later. The presentation 38 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,519 Speaker 1: sparked global debate about the ethics of cloning and about 39 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: whether or not the method could or should be applied 40 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: to humans. By the end of the summer, France and 41 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: other key member nations of the Council of Europe had 42 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: already begun hashing out plans for their eventual anti cloning ban. 43 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: The date of the signing was set for January twelfth, 44 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: and it wound up being extremely timely. That's because one 45 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: week before the meeting, Chicago based physicist Richard Seed announced 46 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: his detailed plan to set up a human cloning clinic 47 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: as quickly as possible. The Harvard educated scientist claimed he 48 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: could produce a human clone in just eighteen months, and 49 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: that once his facility was operational, he'd be able to 50 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: produce as many as two hundred thousand human clones each year. 51 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: As you might expect, seeds plan was widely criticized, with 52 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: many world leaders rushing to condemn it outright. Among the 53 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: first to do so was seeds own President Bill Clinton. 54 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: He called the scheme quote untested and unsafe and morally unacceptable, 55 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: and urged Congress to pass a ten year ban on 56 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: human cloning to allow for continued debate. Some members of 57 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: Congress wanted to go even further by banning human cloning altogether. 58 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: Richard Seed responded to the uproar by doubling down on 59 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: his plan to clone a human within the next two years. 60 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: He said that if Congress banned human cloning in the US, 61 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: he would simply move his operation to Tijuana, Mexico instead. 62 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: Richard Seed's threat may have been an empty one, as 63 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: many in the scientific community doubted his ability to actually 64 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: produce a viable human clone. Nonetheless, it reinforced the idea 65 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: that an international ban was needed. French President Shirak made 66 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,719 Speaker 1: this case himself during a conference of national ethics committees 67 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:57,600 Speaker 1: in Europe. He said, quote, nothing will be resolved by 68 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 1: banning certain practices in one country if scientists and doctors 69 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,840 Speaker 1: can simply work on them elsewhere, and so. Less than 70 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 1: a week after Richard Seed's troubling announcement, nineteen European nations 71 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: heated Shirak's call to action. Their representatives signed an accord 72 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: on January twelfth night and it was ratified later that spring. 73 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: The agreement denounced human cloning as a misuse of science 74 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:28,719 Speaker 1: and a violation of human dignity and identity. Nations that 75 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 1: signed the treaty agreed to enact laws prohibiting any attempt 76 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:37,839 Speaker 1: to quote create human beings genetically identical to another human being, 77 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: whether living or dead. It's worth noting, though, that the 78 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: document made no mention of sanctions or of any other 79 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: form of repercussions for signatory nations who didn't abide by 80 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:52,960 Speaker 1: the treaty, so in other words, they were more or 81 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: less working on the honor system. That lack of rigor 82 00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:59,919 Speaker 1: prompted at least one member nation of the Council of 83 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: Europe to refuse to sign the measure. At the time, 84 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 1: Germany already had a strict ban on human embryo research, 85 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,599 Speaker 1: a direct response to the Nazi eugenics programs of World 86 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: War Two. The German government said the proposed measure was 87 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: weaker than its current standing laws, so there was no 88 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,919 Speaker 1: point in signing it. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, 89 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,280 Speaker 1: took the opposite approach. It argued that the band was 90 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: too restrictive and that human cloning should perhaps be allowed 91 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,440 Speaker 1: in some cases, such as when a couple is completely sterile. 92 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: Of course, it's worth remembering that Dolly the Sheep was 93 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: a UK native herself, and it's possible that her country 94 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 1: just wanted to keep their options open since they were 95 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:47,039 Speaker 1: already ahead of the cloning curve. Twenty five years on, 96 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: there's still no clear consensus on human cloning. In eighteen, 97 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 1: it was reported that only about seventy countries had banned 98 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:57,840 Speaker 1: human cloning, and of that number, not all of the 99 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:01,799 Speaker 1: bands are absolute. More than a dozen of those nations, 100 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: including the UK, Japan, and Israel, still allow for so 101 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: called therapeutic cloning. That's when human embryonic stem cells are 102 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: cloned for use in cell based therapies, though they're never 103 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: grown past fourteen days in either case. The majority of 104 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: countries have yet to pass any federal legislation relating to 105 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: human cloning. That includes the United States, where cloning policy 106 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: varies widely from one state to the next. That means 107 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:35,239 Speaker 1: Richard Seed never did have to relocate to Tijuana, though 108 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: he never managed to clone anyone either, or at least 109 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: not as far as we know. I'm Gay Bluzier, and 110 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 111 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you have a second and 112 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: you're so inclined, come find us on Twitter, Facebook, and 113 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: Instagram at t d i HC Show, and if you 114 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: have any comments or suggestions, feel free to send him 115 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: my way at this Day at I heart media dot com. 116 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,119 Speaker 1: Thanks as always the Chandler Mays for producing the show, 117 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here 118 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in history class.