WHEN DOES HUMAN LIFE BEGIN IN THE ARTIFICIAL PROCEDURES OF ITS GENERATION? AN ANSWER TO THE ARTICLE: “URGENCY OF BIOETHICS BEFORE BIOTECHNOLOGY: HOW DO WE IDENTIFY THE UNICELLULAR HUMAN BEING?

Abstract

This paper presents strong arguments toward proving that in clonation by the tech-nique of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, life begins when the enucleated oocyte fuses with the differentiated cell nucleus. It offers a cogent response to the arguments by which Carrasco and Ventura-Juncá defend that life begins later, when the cell nucleus’ de-differentiation process ends. It draws bioethical consequences from the previous discussion. In particular, it demonstrates that it is always immoral to use any tech-nique which entails the possibility of producing a human totipotential cell. It makes some relevant observations concerning which techniques entail such possibility, spe-cifically, the technique of Reprogramming the Enucleated Egg and Yamanaka’s and Takahashi’s cells.