Human cloning-Want or Waste?

Cloning has been an issue at the forefront of genetic technology for quite sometime. There are both advantages and disadvantages to cloning. The issues of cloning encompass not only the scientific community, but also religion and morality.

Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human being, human cell, or human tissue. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning; human clones in the form of identical twins are commonplace, with their cloning part of the natural process of reproduction.

There are different types of cloning that each entail different results. Reproductive cloning is a technology used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another currently or previously existing animal. Therapeutic cloning, also called "embryo cloning," is the production of human embryos for use in research. The goal of this process is not to create cloned human beings, but rather to harvest stem cells that can be used to study human development and to treat disease.

Reproductive cloning is expensive and highly inefficient. More than 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce viable offspring. More than 100 nuclear transfer procedures could be required to produce one viable clone. In addition to low success rates, cloned animals tend to have more compromised immune function and higher rates of infection, tumor growth, and other disorders.

Physicians from the American Medical Association and scientists with the American Association for the Advancement of Science have issued formal public statements advising against human reproductive cloning. Currently, the U.S. Congress is considering the passage of legislation that could ban human cloning. Many other countries may adopt that legislation too.

Another concern of human reproductive cloning and genetic engineering, is the factor that parents may want to customize their children. Many religious organizations are up in arms against this, citing the word of God as a shield for natural reproduction.

Greenpeace believes that genetically modified organisms (GMO) can spread through nature and interbreed with natural organisms, thereby contaminating non-genetically engineered environments and future generations in an unforeseeable and uncontrollable way. The release is 'genetic pollution' and is a major threat because GMOs cannot be recalled once released into the environment.

On the other hand, stem cells are important to biomedical researchers because they can be used to generate virtually any type of specialized cell in the human body. Stem cells are extracted from the egg after it has divided for 5 days. The extraction process destroys the embryo, which raises a variety of ethical concerns.

However, researchers hope that someday stem cells can be used to serve as replacement cells to treat heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, and other diseases. Human therapeutic cloning could provide genetically identical cells for regenerative medicine, and tissues and organs for
transplantation. Such cells, tissues, and organs would neither trigger an immune response nor require the use of immunosuppressive drugs.

Human reproductive cloning may also have benefits. Researchers and doctors hope to create a fertility treatment that allows parents who are both infertile to have children with at least some of their DNA in their offspring. Reproductive cloning also could be used to repopulate endangered animals or animals that are difficult to breed.

This is an issue that does not have any solution that will appease everyone involved. Families with sick children may want their child to be healthy, no matter what the cost; financial, moral, or otherwise. Scientists want to continue their work unabated and unrestrained by the religious and moral conservatives and the interference of the government.