Umbilical cord stem cells-after the birth of the baby, also contain stem cells which are genetically identical to the new born baby. However the umbilical cord stem cells are Multipotent which can only differentiate into a limited variety of cell types. Also adult stem cells can sometimes not be used as they are already developed into tissues and are stem cells which are already directing their growth and maintenance during life.
However embryonic stem cells-when a fertilized egg begins to divide, are very useful and can be specialized into any type of cell, this can solve many degenerative diseases. But many people have strong feeling that this wrong due to religious reasons and tampering with nature, also some people find it cruel to destroy something that has the potential to live, even if it is for the greater good.
We can see from the graph above that most people do agree with the fact that we should find cures and not delay things because of policies. Yet there are a significant proportion of people, who we cannot ignore, who believe that using embryos is wrong. There is still much controversy going on here and the question will still remain should we delay scientific advance that could save so many peoples lives or not.
I believe that only democracy can solve this problem.
4.3 Reproductive cloning:
Reproductive cloning is technique for producing an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as a previously existing animal. However some ethical issues arise from this which is:
- There might be confusion in personal identity of the clone and the psychological effects
- Some people believe that it will promote trends towards designer babies and human enhancement with side effects
- Some people think that there will be ambiguous relations a cloned child and the progenitor
- There might be technical and medical safety problems
- It is unnatural and undermines the concept of reproduction and having a family.
An example of a reproductive clone is Dolly the sheep, which was created by using a cloning technology. They used a process called “somatic cell nuclear transfer”-SCNT- where an egg cell is used and the nucleus of the egg containing the DNA is removed and replaced by the DNA of another cell. The egg is then treated with chemicals or electrical current, so the egg is stimulated to divide and then transferred into the uterus of a suitable female host, until the birth of the offspring or clone.
Using the nuclear transfer technology, Dolly or any other animals created by using this chromosomal method, are not identical clones of the donor animals. The reason of this being is that the only thing that is the same between the clone and the donor is that of the nuclear DNA of the clone or the clones and the rest of the clone’s genetic material comes from the mitochondria in the cytoplasm of the enucleated egg.
According to AVVS cloning of animals is wrong and their arguments are:
- “Despite years of research, more than 95 percent of cloning attempts fail. A significant number of cloned animals, as well as surrogate mothers who carry clone pregnancies, suffer serious and painful diseases and deformities to produce each ‘successful’ clone.”
- “Seemingly healthy cloned animals have been known to unexpectedly and suddenly develop health problems later in life.”
- “There is little rigorous scientific data available to make any claims about the health of the offspring of cloned animals, but the few studies that have been done indicate that these animals are weaker and less likely to survive than their conventional counterparts.”
- “Cloning increases the commodification of animals and promotes intensive farming practices, which negatively affect animal welfare at a time when consumers are increasingly demanding that farmed animals be treated more humanely.”
- “The FDA’s assessment of animal health risks was highly flawed and scientifically unsound. The government should not lift the moratorium on animal cloning until the animal welfare problems associated with cloning are thoroughly considered and properly addressed.”
They had created a successful animal clone, but as thought there were still some complications as Dolly the sheep died early as she suffered from a disease that only older sheep could get. Also before Dolly was able to be created, professor Wilmut’s team had tried 227 times until Dolly was created and Dolly also had numerous amounts of abnormalities.
On the other the immense amount knowledge we have gained brings us closer to a better way of cloning animals. Imagine due to further investigations we might be able to successfully clone any animal, or anything we wanted. We could save so many species from dying out; we could stop starvation and maybe even grow organs for transplantation so that people would not be dependent on other peoples lives.
Maybe near in the future opinions and technology might change and get even more advanced and allow us to all sorts of things, but with everything there is a risk involved,
Arguments against human cloning
There are so many types of cloning but one of the most controversial topics would be human cloning.
There are lots of arguments against human cloning and the consequences and conflicts it could raise on individuals, families and society as a whole. I will be looking at the argument against human cloning which include ethical and other reasons for being against human cloning.
Individuals:
What would the relationship between a cloned baby and the cloner?
If the cloned child knew that he mother was in reality her sister, her father was actually her brother in law, her grandmother was actually her mother, and the mother who would see her self growing up again. These could severely cause the cloned child to feel abnormal and an outcast, and would strongly affect the child’s life in all areas.
Reproductive cloning might bring a loss on the uniqueness’ of human beings.
If a cloned child for example was created for a specific purpose like a replacement from a child who had died, the child would live a life where she or he would suffer form comparisons and memories of another child. They would be affected, as they won’t have their own life-but are forced to have someone else’s.
Human rights:
Cloned peoples would not have full rights; just now I referred them as “cloned”, even though they have a heart, brain, soul and body they would still not be seen as human, since they are just copies. The cloned people would be used for slavery, donors and wouldn’t have full rights.
Embryos are killed:
During the process of therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning, a lot of human embryos’ are being used; some are used either unwanted or “waste” or others are frozen, so it can be used in the future.
The slippery slope argument:
If human cloning is allowed people might make misuse out of it, as it may become more difficult to prohibit and restrict other more dangerous applications of genetic and reproductive technology.
Arguments in favor of creating Human clones
Some people are horrified by thought of human cloning but it actually brings about benefits as well. First of all, even identical twins are a natural form of cloning so one could argue that if nature allows cloning then what is so wrong with us inhibiting what nature does. Furthermore clones do not necessarily have to be completely identical as environmental factors also play a big impact on how an individual is, and provide everyone with a unique identity.
Also sometimes people might lose their child prematurely and cause so much pain to the parents, that they could have a second version of the same child. Even tough environmental factors will still play a big part.
In addition to this the creation of a genetically identical donor will enable the creation of a genetically identical child who could provide tissue or organs for the cloned adult which cannot be obtained in any other way
Furthermore
- Safety concerns can be overcome
- The slippery slope can be prevented
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People should be given freedom of choose to do cloning as some people believe that they have a reproductive right.
Reliability and Validity of data obtained
I collected data which is only written by professionals such as the BBC as they are known for being trustworthy and honest, so they are likely to print data which reflects this.
I also made sure I cross checked information from the web with a book that was written by an expert.
However some of my secondary data such as figure 1 is slightly unrepresentative as the survey is carried out in America on a small basis of sample of around 900 people which is too low.
Furthermore the opinions can have changed over the years and people might think differently so as it is unknown when this survey is taken we don’t know how much it is valid
Conclusion
I think cloning tissue or developing organs could helps so many people, which could lead to a tissue bank, to help people improve their health by overcoming disease like lung cancer or diabetes, by only using a few embryos.
BBC Bitesize said: “Even though a few embryos will be destroyed, many people will be free from suffering and cured of diseases that are currently incurable.”
I think that people who are infertile will have a better chance of having children as there are more fertility treatments available, however I think that in terms of the percentage the results are very low (20%). The reason for this is because, instead of single birth there are multiple births and the age of the patient also effects the treatment. Through out the treatment the couple/family, go through emotional and physical pain for a low chance of birth, they also have less time and money available for them to have children; so the treatment is then unsuccessful, so I think that cloning a child would resolve this problem.
However I think by cloning tissue or developing organs it could really lead one step to human cloning, furthermore I think that by redeveloping tissue and human organs, there would be a “waste” on human body parts as their will be many failure and the humans would be more seen as experiments and by using embryo’s it would be like using a human for curing another human, as well as there would be a lot of waste on Human Embryos while doing this procedure.
“No human life should be sacrificed for the benefit of anybody else, no matter how dramatic the promises are.” Said by Josephine Quintavalle, of the pro-life group
There is an increase of an orphans e.g. because of war such as in Afghanistan there are about 1.5 million orphans now. I also think that if we started cloning then there wouldn’t be any body to care for them as each person cares only about there own family, the world would also become to overpopulated e.g. U.K.
I think that by cloning a human child, the child will suffer a short life, because while cloning dolly the sheep it took; 277 attempts before dolly the sheep was cloned, it had fatal issues e.g. a study showed that 24% of all cloned calves, died within 3 months and 2% because of Chronic sickness. Furthermore I think that a cloned child, who lived for the long-term, would suffer other consequences like: premature aging, immune system failures and sudden unexplained deaths.
Furthermore I think that a cloned twin would actually suffer mental, physical and emotional pain because they are put into somebody else’s life and for that reason I think nobody should ever face this, as it is too much to cope for any one.
I think that by allowing such a powerful tool, to be accessed by everyone, one of the most dangerous leaders such as Hitler could be using it to create superhuman clones or army of people to fight for war. This technology is too dangerous for people to use it, even if it is supposed to be for the greater good.
Cloning human organs and tissue would save millions of people; from disease like cancer to diabetes, however, this would bring many problems; because humans would be seen more like experiments rather than human species. Furthermore there would be a waste on human organs, tissues and embryos. Overall I think that cloning tissues and organs, overweighs “against therapeutic cloning”, because it is very beneficial and will save millions of lives, while not cloning humans themselves.
If human cloning was allowed, infertile people would have their own identical “child”, which would be really good as they would have a great experience of having their own child however this could cause a decrease in child adoption and there would be so many orphans around the world who won’t have parents, furthermore the population of the world would increase even more than it is already and the amount of ovum’s used for this producer is too much as well compared IVF, making woman a source of supply.
If human cloning was used for replacing another lost “child” for a family, than the family would feel more comfort in this, and less lonely and they wouldn’t have to suffer all the years coming however, if the family did replace a child with a clone then the cloned child will be the one, who will be the most effected as people will treat him/her in a different way, he/she will be a replacement furthermore, the child would be more likely to suffer more, as she would have types of diseases or better said a shorter life span, which would mentally effect both parents, as they have lost another child.
If we allow cloning, it would enhance are knowledge about genetic structures and creating healthy and better children however this could lead from one thing to another, even though people might use it for the greater good, it could lead dangerous things, for example it could fall in the wrong hands like Hitler, this could cause a big problem as people now can create superhuman and build a whole army.
Overall, by looking at the for and against I believe that therapeutic cloning should be allowed as it will save millions of people and giving us a clear insight to genetic structures, however many people could go against this, as they believe that by using embryos your killing a human, or your “playing god”
I am strongly against human cloning, because you are cloning humans that are not necessary in this world, as the population is already high and I find just not natural to use a cloned humans, as they would suffer, people around them and the uniqueness of human life would vanish. However, people could disagree because they say it would help infertile people to have children and if they lost children they could have the same child again.
I do believe that we should understand that we should respect other people’s opinions. Views and religion but if we are not forcing anything upon people and give the choice to do what they think is best, we would still be able to accept cloning.
However I do believe that we need very tight regulations so that people do not abuse the technology available.
In the end cloning has much potential to save lives, and saving lives is something good so we should embrace it, and use it for the benefit of all.
Opinions vary on cloning, and during my investigation I have come to the conclusion that cloning can be beneficial to us in some areas but is not necessary in other regulations.
Bibliography
1:
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Reliability: the website is very reliable as it is written by experts who have done a whole project about this topic, I cross checked the information with a book written by an expert.
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Purpose: the purpose of this website was to provide information about their project; the human genome program and information about genes, ethical and legal issues and research archives. (These are only some of the information they provide.)
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sponsorship: U.S. Department of energy office science, office of Biological and environmental research and Human Genome Program
2:
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Reliability: it is reliable and it gave good facts which I made sure was correct, as I cross checked with reliable website like BBC and books. They had a copyright sign of 2010, showing that they are still up to date.
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Purpose: they provide general information about cloning.
3:
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Reliability: It provides reliable information because it was written by an expert and I cross checked it with a book.
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Purpose: It provided information about: biology aging, disease center and cloning
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sponsorship: American federation for aging research
4: OCR Biology (AS)
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Reliability: It is written by experts who now a lot about this topic.
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Published: 2008
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Author/written by: Pete Kennedy and Frank Sochacki
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Series editor: Sue Hocking
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Website:
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Pages:118
5:
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Reliability: It provides clear and reliable information that is very relevant to my investigation. I cross checked it with a book written by and expert. I looked at the data the article was published, which was February 28th 2010. This shows the website itself is up to date.
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Purpose: The purpose of this website is to provide information about genetics, including cloning.
- sponsorship: U.S national library of medicine
6:
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Reliability: The video was done by an expert.
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purpose: The video provided information about recombinant DNA
7:
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Reliability: It was written by experts and I cross checked it with other reliable website like BBC and I cross checked it with books.
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Purpose: To provide information to the public about Stem Cells.
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sponsorship: national institute of health
8: GCSE Science Higher (OCR)
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Authors: David Brodie, Ann Fullick, John Lazonby, Cliff Porter and 12 other authors
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Published: 2006
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Pages: 3
9:
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Reliability: Written by professionals, who made an animation about stem cells, it was done by university of UTAH, this is very reliable is they researched the information thoroughly and they where experts themselves.
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Purpose: To provide information about stem cells, but the website is mainly about genetics.
10: BBC news; British news team grew human heart valves from stem cells.
11:
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Reliability: It is very reliable, as it is written by experts and used in schools, families and adults.
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Purpose: BBC Bitesize targets audiences like GCSE students, they provide information such as science, math’s etc.
12:
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Reliability: it is written by an expert and I cross checked the information provided.
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Purpose: it provides information about science in general like cloning.
Diagram 1
1:
Vector DNA
Piece of DNA
Cut the DNA molecules with restriction enzymes
Join vector and piece of DNA, by using enzyme DNA ligase
Insert the recombinant DNA into host cell.
Recombinant DNA
Bacterial chromosomes
1: Huriya Nazari
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1
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The diagram shows us when sperm and a egg fertilizes and then turns into early embryo, where it can then becomes a blastocyst and then it will either be used for embryonic stem cells research or turn into a human fetus.
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Diagram 1
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