Higher Therapeutic Cloning and Ethical Considerations

Higher Therapeutic Cloning and Ethical Considerations

Therapeutic cloning involves creating a cloned embryo that is genetically matched to a patient, for the purpose of harvesting embryonic stem cells — not to produce a baby. The embryo is never implanted into a womb.

Why it matters medically:

• Stem cells from a cloned embryo would be genetically identical to the patient, so they would not be rejected by the immune system.
• These cells could theoretically be used to grow replacement tissue (e.g., heart muscle cells for a patient who had a heart attack, or neurons for Parkinson's disease).
• This approach would overcome the major problem in transplant medicine — rejection of foreign tissue.

Ethical debate:

• For: Could save millions of lives; uses spare embryos; embryo has not yet developed the characteristics of a person; scientifically promising.
• Against: Creating and destroying embryos raises serious moral questions about when human life begins; some religious traditions regard any human embryo as having full moral status; risks of cloning technology being misused for reproductive cloning; potential exploitation of egg donors.
• Current status: Reproductive cloning of humans is illegal in the UK and most countries. Therapeutic cloning research is permitted under strict regulation in some countries including the UK.