It all started with the announcement of the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first clone of an adult mammal, in February 1997. That breakthrough experiment has led to the cloning of cows and mice, creating the perception that humans might eventually also be cloned. The big challenge, of course, is drawing the line between the usefulness and the risks of human cloning. Japan's new legislation concerning cloning technology for humans is an attempt to address this pivotal question.

The law, enacted in the last Diet session and scheduled to take effect next June, prohibits the cloning of humans on the grounds that it "could have serious effects on the upholding of human dignity, the securing of the safety of human life and the human body, and the maintenance of social order." The prohibition itself seems reasonable, at least for the time being. Cloning genetically identical humans means breeding human copies. Treating persons as a means or as mere tools is clearly an affront to individual dignity.

Those who violate the law are subject to prison terms of not more than 10 years or fines not exceeding 10 million yen. These penalties, which are much more severe than originally proposed, are similar to those for other grossly antisocial acts such as putting poison in foods on sale and producing sarin gas for criminal purposes. The provisions against human cloning are tougher than those in other countries.