Therapeutic cloning – How it is done and pros and cons
Cloning is the production of one or more individual plants or animals (whole or in part) that are genetically identical to an original plant or animal.
Three very different procedures have been referred to as “cloning.” Two are:
| Adult DNA cloning (a.k.a. cell nuclear replacement): This involves removing the DNA from an embryo and replacing it with the DNA from a cell removed from an individual. Then, the embryo would be implanted in a woman’s womb and be allowed to develop in to a new human whose DNA is identical to that of the original individual. This method has been used to clone a sheep. The initial steps of the procedure were tried using human DNA in 1998-DEC. Adult DNA cloning cannot ethically be used to produce a human clone, because experiments on animals have sometimes produced defective specimens. | |
| Therapeutic cloning: (a.k.a. Somatic cell nuclear transfer or research cloning): This starts with the same procedure as is used in adult DNA cloning. The resultant embryo would be allowed to grow for perhaps 14 days. It’s stem cells would then be extracted and encouraged to grow into a piece of human tissue or a complete human organ for transplant. The end result would not be a human being; it would be a replacement organ, or piece of nerve tissue, or quantity of skin. The first successful therapeutic cloning was accomplished in 2001-NOV by Advanced Cell Technology, a biotech company in Worcester, MA. |
Unfortunately, although adult DNA cloning and therapeutic cloning are quite different procedures leading to very different goals, both terms contain the word “cloning.” This causes a great deal of confusion among the public. Many transfer their disgust at the concept of creating cloned babies to therapeutic cloning whose goal is to create an organ to heal people.
Pros
Therapeutic cloning gives recipients the possibility of little to no danger of rejecting a transplanted organ because that organ would have an exact match to the patient’s DNA. Furthermore, there would be no need for an organ donor and no surgery required for a second party. The recipient would not need to wait on a donor to die before receiving a life-saving organ. Therapeutic cloning has been valuable for researchers. It allows researchers to test for possible cures or treatments of existing diseases and disorders such as Parkinson’s and diabetes. Therapeutic cloning also enables scientists to study the regeneration of organs, although disagreements exist on the benefits of therapeutic cloning.
The possible benefits if therapeutic cloning is successful is phenomenal, replacement organs would become freely available to the sick patients and the patients that are dieing because they are in need of a certain type of organ. If scientists become successful, this would most likely take many years of research before the first useable results will be obtained. This means that countless amounts of lives would be saved, and would also greatly increase the quality of life of many others. These people believe that a human personhood comes later in the maturing process inside the woman’s womb, or when its brain develops to the point were it becomes conscious of itself, or at birth. Cloning and stem cell research in general is very important ethical hurdle that must be successfully accomplished because this is very important medically and technologically to our rapidly growing society, with this special type of cloning we will be able to live longer, safer, and better lives. Embryos appear to be the only source of stem cells that would have wide potential in therapeutic cloning. Scientists would start with a living embryo, and then replace its DNA. Conservative Christians believe that a human person is present during this time. Many conservative Christians believe that human personhood starts at conception, this would go against therapeutic cloning because the embryo must first be created by cell nuclear replacement, then killed. The stem cells are a unique form of a human cell that can theoretically develop into any organ or body parts of the body; then the tissue or organ would be transplanted into the patient. Then the embryo could be implanted into a female uterus, having a one in four chance of developing into a fetus. However, organs grown from stem cells from a foreign source would have foreign DNA that doesn’t match the DNA of the recipient; therefore the recipient would have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their life and could suffer organ rejection at any given time. Even within Christianity, Judaism, and other religions, a range of beliefs exists about when a fertilized ovum becomes a human being.
Problems with Therapeutic Cloning
One problem with therapeutic cloning is that many attempts are often required to create a viable egg. The stability of the egg with the infused somatic nucleus is poor and it can require hundreds of attempts before success is attained.Therapeutic cloning does result in the destruction of an embryo after stem cells are extracted and this destruction has stirred controversy over the morality of the procedure. Some argue that the pros outweigh the cons with regards to treating disease whilst others have likened the destruction to an abortion. Still others state that this doesn’t change the fact the embryo could potentially be a human being and so destruction of the embryo is no different than destruction of a human life.
Because reproductive cloning does utilise SCNT as the primary step, there is also still fear that given our knowledge base to perform reproductive cloning, a scientist may attempt to move beyond therapeutic cloning to creation of a human being.
To this date, no human being has been successfully cloned but the possibility of this occurring is a frightening one not only for the general public and policy makers, but also for most of the ethical scientific field. The majority of scientists are adamantly opposed to reproductive cloning and instead, support therapeutic cloning for treating disease. With policies and careful monitoring in place to ensure that therapeutic cloning is used responsibly, we can all benefit from the potential of this procedure to eventually treat, or perhaps one day cure, many diseases.
