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Reproductive and therapeutic cloning

Quotations on reproductive cloning (creating duplicate humans):
 | Conservative position: "...scientists who envision medical breakthroughs using stem cells
from human embryos are now moving on to human cloning -- breeding people for
the purpose of harvesting their tissues and organs from their bodies, then
disposing of them." 1
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 | Liberal position: "Human cloning allows man to fashion his own essential nature and
turn chance into choice. For cloning's advocates, this is an opportunity to
remake mankind in an image of health, prosperity, and nobility; it is the
ultimate expression of man's unlimited potential."
2 |

Quotations on therapeutic cloning (creating human organs for transplanting):
 | Conservative position: "Cloning, even so-called
therapeutic or experimental cloning, creates a new life without a father,
and reduces a mother to the provider of an almost emptied egg. Nonetheless,
it is a new human life and the determination to destroy it and limit its use
to scientific research for therapeutic ends compound further the moral
issues rather than protect mankind. As such, cloning embryonic human life
under any circumstance crosses an ethical line, takes an irrevocable step,
from which science can never turn back." 3
|
 | Liberal position: "Therapeutic cloning will in time allow
scientists to create organs that are a perfect match for those in need of a
transplant. The cloned organ would be based on the recipient’s genetic
material and would not require the use of debilitating immunosuppressive
therapies. There would also be no chance of rejection, which is fatal.
Therapeutic cloning represents the ideal in organ transplantation, as it
would provide an unlimited source of organs to anyone who needs them. The
need for these organs is dire." 4 |

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Overview:
It is unfortunate that the term "cloning" refers to three very different
procedures with three very different goals. It is also unfortunate that the
first thought many people have when they hear the term is of horror movies which
have showed the creation of human monsters or of armies of superhuman soldiers
with subhuman brains.
The reality of cloning is very different.
The three different types of "cloning" are:
 | Embryo cloning: This is a medical technique which produces
monozygotic (identical) twins or triplets. It duplicates the process
that nature uses to produce twins or triplets. One or more cells are
removed from a fertilized embryo and encouraged to develop into one or
more duplicate embryos. Twins or triplets are thus formed, with
identical DNA. This has been done for many years on various species of
animals; only very limited experimentation has been done on humans.
|
 |
Adult DNA cloning (a.k.a.
reproductive cloning) This technique which is intended to produce a duplicate of an
existing animal. It has been used to clone a sheep and other
mammals. The DNA from an ovum is removed and
replaced with the DNA from a cell removed from an adult animal. Then, the
fertilized ovum, now called a pre-embryo, is
implanted in a womb and allowed to develop into a new animal. This may or may not have been tried on humans. It is specifically forbidden by law
in many countries. There are rumors that Dr. Severino Aninori has
successfully initiated a pregnancy through reproductive cloning. It has the potential of producing a
twin of an existing person. Based on previous animal studies, it also has the potential of producing
severe genetic defects. For the latter reason alone, many medical
ethicists consider it to be a profoundly
immoral procedure when done on humans.
|
 | Therapeutic cloning (a.k.a. biomedical cloning): This is a procedure
whose initial stages are identical to
adult DNA cloning. However, the stem cells are removed from the pre-embryo
with the intent of producing tissue or a whole organ for transplant back
into the person who supplied the DNA. The pre-embryo dies in the
process. The goal of therapeutic cloning is to produce a healthy
copy of a sick person's tissue or organ for transplant. This technique
would be vastly superior to relying on organ transplants from other
people. The supply would be unlimited, so there would be no waiting
lists. The tissue or organ would have the sick person's original DNA;
the patient would not have to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of their life, as is now required
after transplants. There would not be any danger of organ rejection. |
There are major ethical concerns about all three types of cloning, when
applied to humans.

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Topics covered in this section:
Related essay on this website:

A molecular biology resource for researchers:
- Addgene is a non-profit plasmid repository dedicated to helping scientists around the world share high-quality plasmids. See: https://www.addgene.org/

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You can buy these books safely from Amazon.com's online bookstore:

References:
- Anon, "Still Work to Do," Focus on the Family Magazine, 2004-JAN,
Page 21
- Patrick Stephens, "Cloning: Towards a new conception of humanity,"
The Reproductive Cloning Network, at:
http://www.reproductivecloning.net/
- Daniel Reilly, "Statement on human cloning," The Diocese of Worcester,
(Roman Catholic), 2001-NOV-26, at:
http://www.worcesterdiocese.org/
- Justin Durivage, "Therapeutic cloning raises new questions concerning
morality," The Student File, 2001-DEC-07, at:
http://www.tsl.pomona.edu/

Copyright ©1997 to 2013 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Originally published: 1997-AUG-5
Last updated 2013-MAR-05
Author: Bruce A Robinson

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