Human cloning research in Japan: a study in science, culture, morality, and patent law.

Abstract

Movies and science fiction novels for years have depicted ancient and exotic animals resurrected from extinction by mad scientists and out-of-thisworld phenomena. While in actuality we have yet to see any such resurrections, the theoretical results once thought to be science fiction fantasy have come a step closer to reality as powerful technology has been developed which allows the production of genetically identical copies of living, breathing animals through the process of cloning. Cloning technology carries moral, cultural, scientific and legal implications. Today, researchers and scientists work diligently to develop groundbreaking technology that must be protected through worldwide patenting of the fruits of their labor. Recent advances in cloning and other scientific technology have reached the point that there is "virtually no life form which does not have the potential as the subject of a patent application,"2 including human beings. Japan has been at the forefront of the development of cloning technology. In the summer of 1998, Japanese researchers announced that they had successfully cloned a cow. This success, combined with other recent cloning developments throughout the world, immediately raised the question of whether cloning could have human applications, and ultimately whether human cloning was possible. Thus begins a debate that transcends the realms of morality, culture, ethics, and the law. Parts II and III of this note address scientific research in Japan in general, and the science of cloning specifically. Part IV provides an overview of the patent law system of Japan, and Part V discusses religious and cultural influences on Japanese morality. The note then turns specifically to human cloning, beginning with Part VI which presents arguments both for and against human cloning. Part VII describes why human cloning is contrary to morality in Japan and asserts that there is no need for governmental regulation of human cloning research in Japan because Japan's patent law system provides both adequate regulation of the technology and the flexibility to allow potentially useful technology to emerge and to allow societal views to change.