What is the difference between reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning and what are the ethical issues associated with it?
Cloning occurs naturally in nature. We can see this in some plants and single celled organisms, like bacteria, which produce genetically identical offspring through asexual reproduction. Ideas of artificial cloning have been around since 1938 when Hans Spermann proposed his "fantastic experiment" to grow an embryo from an egg with a nucleus obtained from another cell. Cloning has come a very long way since then: from Briggs and King in 1952, when they tried (and failed) to clone a frog, all the way to now, with human cloning (as you can see it in any good science fiction film) on the horizon. The exciting thing is …show more content…
Many people question the practices and deem them 'unnatural'. Therapeutic cloning has been likened to murder in the way that it requires the 'killing' of the 5 day old embryo in order to extract stem cells. It is also deemed unethical to create an embryo (which many see as a possible human life) solely to 'destroy' it. As for reproductive cloning, the ethical issues include, genetic damage to the clone, complex altered familial relationships, health risks to the mother, psychological harm to the clone, commodification of human life and the very low success rate resulting in loss of large numbers of embryos and foetuses.
Every country has their own stance and laws regarding both reproductive and therapeutic cloning. For example, here in Australia embryonic stem cell research is permitted but all forms of cloning (reproductive and therapeutic) are banned (all research must be conducted using donated human embryos, none can be created). On the other hand, America has no specific laws banning any forms of cloning though it is not federally funded (although, some states in the USA have their own laws). Some countries, such as Italy and Ireland, have banned all forms of embryonic stem cell research and
Cloning occurs naturally in nature. We can see this in some plants and single celled organisms, like bacteria, which produce genetically identical offspring through asexual reproduction. Ideas of artificial cloning have been around since 1938 when Hans Spermann proposed his "fantastic experiment" to grow an embryo from an egg with a nucleus obtained from another cell. Cloning has come a very long way since then: from Briggs and King in 1952, when they tried (and failed) to clone a frog, all the way to now, with human cloning (as you can see it in any good science fiction film) on the horizon. The exciting thing is …show more content…
Many people question the practices and deem them 'unnatural'. Therapeutic cloning has been likened to murder in the way that it requires the 'killing' of the 5 day old embryo in order to extract stem cells. It is also deemed unethical to create an embryo (which many see as a possible human life) solely to 'destroy' it. As for reproductive cloning, the ethical issues include, genetic damage to the clone, complex altered familial relationships, health risks to the mother, psychological harm to the clone, commodification of human life and the very low success rate resulting in loss of large numbers of embryos and foetuses.
Every country has their own stance and laws regarding both reproductive and therapeutic cloning. For example, here in Australia embryonic stem cell research is permitted but all forms of cloning (reproductive and therapeutic) are banned (all research must be conducted using donated human embryos, none can be created). On the other hand, America has no specific laws banning any forms of cloning though it is not federally funded (although, some states in the USA have their own laws). Some countries, such as Italy and Ireland, have banned all forms of embryonic stem cell research and