What is cloning? Is it ethical? What impact could it have on society? Recent advances in science have provoked debate about where cloning will take us. This book considers the social and ethical considerations of cloning, including whether cloning humans is acceptable, whether people are wiling to eat cloned food and whether we should take advantage of medical therapies associated with cloning.
The information comes from a wide range of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper reports, features, magazine articles and surveys, literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
Human Cloning
Questions and answers on human cloning, What is cloning?, Cloning: new horizons in medicine, Human cloning – the ethical issues, A humanist discussion of embryo research, Biologists want to drop the word ‘cloning’, Animal-human embryos, Chimeras, hybrids and ‘cybrids’, Animal-human hybrids: it makes sense to say no, Hybrid embryo ban ‘would costs patients’ lives’.
Stem Cell Research
Stem cells and human embryos, Stem cell research: new horizons in medicine, Frequently asked questions on stem cells, Genetic engineering, Your stem cell body repair kit, Stem cells – too fast too soon?, An ethical solution to stem cell controversy?, Stem cell milestones, Heart tissue from stem cells, Women may be able to grow own sperm.
Animal Cloning
Dolly, Where Dolly went astray, man or mouse, Clones and factory farming, Milk from cloned cows leaks into UK, Can we be sure no cloned animals are in food chain?, Cloned meat and milk ‘safe’.
Key Facts
Glossary
Index
Additional Resources
Acknowledgements
Key Facts
• Cloning occurs in nature and can occur in organisms that reproduce sexually as well as those that reproduce asexually. In sexual reproduction, clones are created when a fertilized egg splits to produce identical (monozygous) twins with identical DNA. (page 1)
• There are a variety of national laws on cloning; many other bills have been submitted and are currently under consideration. As of now, approximately 35 nations have adopted laws forbidding reproductive cloning. (page 3)
• No one knows the psychological effects of discovering one was the twin of one of one’s ‘parents’ or sibling. Am I just a copy of someone else who’s already existed and not really ‘me’? What would be my relationship to them? Since we have no sure way of knowing in advance, we surely do not have the right knowingly to inflict that risk on another person. (page 6)
• At the early stage where research is focused, an embryo has few of the characteristics we associate with a person. It is a fertilised human egg, with the capacity to develop into a person, but its cells have not yet begun to form into specialist cells that would form particular parts of the body. (page 7)
• 68% of people surveyed by YouGov felt that it was acceptable for ‘spare’ early embryos left over from fertility treatments to be used for medical research. (page 8)
• Don’t say cloning, say somatic cell nuclear transfer. That at least is the view of biologists who want the term to be used instead of ‘therapeutic cloning’ to describe the technique that produces cloned embryos from which stem cells can then be isolated. This, they argue, will help to distinguish it from attempts to clone a human being. (page 9)
• Human eggs are in short supply – being also in demand for fertility treatment – and are expensive, costing about £3,000 per woman. Moreover, the procedure carries risks. Rabbit or cow eggs would enable scientists to do basic stem cell research more cheaply and safely. (page 9)
• In biotechnology it is now possible to combine elements between organisms of different species. It is also possible to create cloned animals using parts of eggs from one species and nuclear genetic material from another. (page 10)
• It may be said that any form of mixing violates natural boundaries – it breaks the species barrier. (page 12)
• Hundreds of thousands of patients with diseases of the nervous system will miss out on potentially life-saving new treatments if regulators ban experiments using part-human, part-animal embryos, scientists have said. (page 14)
• The aim of therapeutic cloning is to create embryonic stem cells for use in medical research and development of stem cell therapies. In contrast, the aim of reproductive cloning is to make a fully developed replica of the organism being cloned. Human reproductive cloning is illegal in the UK and the practice is considered to be unethical. (page 15)
• 41% of people in Europe agreed that it is wrong to use human embryos in medical research. 41% of people disagreed. (page 19)
• A positive 59% of Britons agree with controversial stem cell research, according to research by ICM conducted on behalf of the Guardian. (page 20)
• Scientists believe stem cells could prove to be the ultimate body repair kit, with no need for donated organs, man-made joints or drugs to keep failing body parts working. (page 21)
• 48% of people surveyed by YouGov felt that embryos should only be used in medical research for life-threatening diseases, such as cancer or heart disease, whether in adults or children. (page 24)
• Scientists have created embryonic stem cells in mice without destroying embryos in the process, potentially removing the major controversy over work in this field. (page 26)
• Women could one day grow their own sperm, says a scientist who claims to have turned bone marrow into early-stage sperm cells. (page 29)
• On 23 February, 1997, the world learnt that British scientists Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell had created the first clone of an adult mammal. Dolly the sheep had arrived. (page 32)
• When Crick and Watson discovered the structure of DNA, it took more than 20 years for their work to be translated into biotechnology products including human growth hormone, blood clotting treatments and other drugs. (page 33)
• 24% of males surveyed by YouGov felt that human cloning should never be allowed by law, compared to 35% of females. (page 35)
• A pilot study has shown that milk and meat from cloned cattle appear safe for human consumption. (page 39)
The Cloning Debate Study Guide
Each book in the Issues series has a study guide. These four-page guides provide a variety of discussion points and other activities to suit a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £1.50
ISBN: 978 1 86168 429 5
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