Human Cloning

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Human Cloning
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Introduction

• Human cloning is the creation of a genetically
  identical human being, human cell or human tissue.

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Cloning

• Cloning produces cells that are genetically
  similar to each other (have the same DNA).
• This prevents an organ (or cells) made through
  cloning from being rejected.

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Types of Cloning

• There are two types of cloning
• Therapeutic cloning is the use of (stem) cells
  for medicinal or research purposes.
• Reproductive cloning would be using (stem) cells
  to create cloned humans.

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Types of Cloning
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Therapeutic Cloning

1. Nucleus of an egg cell is replaced with the
   nucleus of a body cell.
2. Egg cell is stimulated with electricity.
3. Embryo grows.
4. Embryo stem cells are collected and used to treat
   the donor.

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Problems with Therapeutic Cloning

• Therapeutic cloning creates embryos and then
  destroys them for stem cells, which is morally
  wrong to some.

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Reproductive Cloning

• Nucleus of an egg cell is replaced with the
  nucleus of a body cell.
• Egg cell is stimulated with electricity.
• Embryo is put into a uterus and allowed to grow
  and be born.
• The baby is an exact genetic copy of the donor!

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Problems with Reproductive Cloning

• Reproductive cloning is deemed morally wrong
  because it is creating a human life just to be a
  walking organ donor for the person after whom
  they were created.

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Human Cloning

• Human cloning has sparked debate within the
  scientific community since the 1960s.
• Lots of movies have been made concerning the
  ethics of human cloning (Sleeper, The Boys from
  Brazil, Multiplicity).

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Pro-Reproductive Cloning

• Severino Antinori and Panos Zavos 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.
• Some scientists, including Dr. Richard Seed,
  suggest that human cloning might prevent the
  human aging process.
• In Aubrey de Gray's proposed SENS (Strategies for
  Engineered Negligible Senescence), one of the
  considered options to repair the cell depletion
  related to cellular senescence is to grow
  replacement tissues from stem cells harvested
  from a cloned embryo.

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Anti-Reproductive Cloning

• Opponents of human cloning argue that the process
  will likely lead to severely disabled children.
• Bioethicist Thomas Murray of the Hastings Centre
  argues that "it is absolutely inevitable that
  groups are going to try to clone a human being.
  But they are going to create a lot of dead and
  dying babies along the way.
• Due to the difficulty of cloning any living
  animal, it is likely that there would be a great
  number of failures in the creation of a living
  human clone, such as clones without viable immune
  systems or other gross genetic failures.

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More Cloning?

• A third type of cloning called replacement
  cloning is a theoretical possibility, and would
  be a combination of therapeutic and reproductive
  cloning.
• Replacement cloning would entail the replacement
  of an extensively damaged, failed, or failing
  body through cloning followed by whole or partial
  brain transplant.
• Never been attempted that we know of.