Pros of therapeutic cloning
- Therapeutic cloning can help create vital organs. This would be helpful for people suffering from kidney and other disorders, who are forced to wait years for a replacement organ.
- When organs are made out of a patient's own cell, doctors do not have to worry about organ or tissue rejection by the immune system of the patient.
- Stops the wait time for organs and patients then do not risk loosing their life while waiting for an organ.
- Therapeutic cloning may be helpful for preventing diseases, research in this area of therapeutic cloning is still being preformed.
- Organs would have an exact match of the patient's DNA.
- No need for organ donors and no surgery required for the second party.
- Allows for researchers to test cures for certain diseases, such as, Parkinson's and diabetes.
- Researchers can study the regeneration of organs.
Cons of therapeutic cloning
- Adult cells are limiting, so therapeutic cloning relies on stem cells extracted from the embryos. Just a small portion of stem cells are usable.
- Some cells mutate and cause tumours in patients.
- In order to cure disease, millions of eggs are needed. We do not currently have this type of supply of eggs.
- Many people believe it is ethically wrong and against "god's" wishes.
- Extracting eggs from a female is costly and painful for the woman.
- The cost of therapeutic cloning is very high.
History and conclusion
Scientists from Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology, announced in 2001, the cloning of embryos to be used for advancing therapeutic cloning. A skin cell was inserted into a fertilized egg that had all of its genetic material removed. The egg soon divided and the whole idea of therapeutic cloning was discovered. In 2002 California became the first state to legalize research on therapeutic cloning. Britain then became the first country to give money to scientists researching therapeutic cloning.
Many right wing conservatives or people who oppose abortion believe that life starts at conception. They believe that inserting cells into a fertilized cell can create a person, that life is then killed when the stem cells are removed. They often argue that killing of one life to cure another is unfair. Many countries do not support research on therapeutic cloning because of this ideology. Politicians do not consider the pros of therapeutic cloning and how it can be helpful to the citizens of their country.
Stem cell research is banned in many parts of Europe, such as Germany, Finland, Austria and Greece. It is also banned in China and Israel. Stem cell research and therapeutic cloning is legal in, the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil. Canada's rules on therapeutic cloning and stem cell research are very strict. Here are the guidelines that Canada created on stem cell research:
Many right wing conservatives or people who oppose abortion believe that life starts at conception. They believe that inserting cells into a fertilized cell can create a person, that life is then killed when the stem cells are removed. They often argue that killing of one life to cure another is unfair. Many countries do not support research on therapeutic cloning because of this ideology. Politicians do not consider the pros of therapeutic cloning and how it can be helpful to the citizens of their country.
Stem cell research is banned in many parts of Europe, such as Germany, Finland, Austria and Greece. It is also banned in China and Israel. Stem cell research and therapeutic cloning is legal in, the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil. Canada's rules on therapeutic cloning and stem cell research are very strict. Here are the guidelines that Canada created on stem cell research:
- The embryos used must originally have been created for reproductive purposes
- The persons for whom the embryos were created must provide free and informed consent for the unrestricted research use of any embryos created, which are no longer required for reproductive purposes
- The ova, sperm, nor embryo must not have been obtained through commercial transactions