Letter: Twins take terror out of clone debate
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Andrew Marr is right to highlight the breakthrough achieved by the Roslin Institute as a momentous change in the human condition ("Galileo, Copernicus - and now Dolly!", 26 February), and I share his belief that we will learn to "live with our own growing skill".
One reason for sharing that belief, without downplaying the magnitude of the change, is that we have experience of living with genetically identical human beings - at least since we stopped killing twins at birth.
Identical twins are just that - identical - at the genetic level, yet for all the extraordinary similarities of experience, attitudes and behaviour that are documented by my fellow psychologists, each twin develops into a unique individual. Conjoined twins, whether separated or not, further dramatically underline the simple point that emerges from "twin studies".
Our experience, attitudes and behaviour are strongly influenced by our genetic inheritance, but less and less is genetically determined, in the strict sense of "determined", as we move towards what distinguishes us as human beings.
I share a good deal of my own genetic make-up with my siblings, and were I an identical twin (or a clone), I would share the whole of it. But it seems to me that identical twins (and for that matter, in appropriate measure, siblings) give the lie to the "exposed film waiting to be developed" image of the sociobiologists in the sheer variety of choices and life- commitments displayed in their lives.
BRENDAN CALLAGHAN SJ
Principal, Heythrop College
University of London
London W8
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments