The Human Clone Market

Imagine the following scenario. A few years from now, those who can afford it will contract cloning labs to grow clones to supply duplicate organs or replace body parts. Clones will be genetically matched to clients so they can be used in transplants without being attacked by the client’s immune system. To side-step the ethical argument of what is considered human, the client’s clones will be grown as headless embryos, without a brain or a central nervous system. Destined never to leave the lab, these cloned embryos will develop all the necessary body parts, including a heart, a circulatory system, lungs, and a digestive system. For those without deep pockets, the cloning labs will offer economy clones featuring one or more specific organs. Using embryo cloning techniques developed in Britain in the late 1990s, the cloning labs will grow these headless clones to match each stage of a child’s or adult’s development, so that organs will be available throughout the client’s life.