Therapeutic Cloning – Explore Stem Cells

Author: Ian Murnaghan BSc (hons), MSc - Updated: 14 August 2015 | Comment

When people think of the word 'cloning' they are often hit with frightening images of duplicate human beings being created in somewhat of a mad scientist style experiment. In fact, many members of the public were outraged when "Dolly" the sheep resulted from a cloning experiment in Scotland.

Therapeutic cloning, however, is entirely different and does not involve the creation of a perfectly copied human being. It is reproductive cloning that results in a copy of a specific human being. In therapeutic cloning, no sperm fertilisation is involved nor is there implantation into the uterus to create a child.

Therapeutic cloning is also important to enhancing our understanding of stem cells and how they and other cells develop. This understanding can hopefully lead to new treatments or cures for some of the common diseases affecting people today. In addition, the procedure would allow for scientists to create stem cell therapies that are patient specific and perfectly matched for the patient's medical condition.

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.

Therapeutic Cloning – Explore Stem Cells

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