Cloning: techniques, applications, and ethical considerations

¶ … Congressional Ban on 'cloning'.

The reality of cloning entered the world arena with a sheep named Dolly. Despite Dolly's fame, cloning techniques have existed since the 1970s, with a process called 'artificial twinning' which involved splitting a single ovum into what are considered new embryos and implanting them each into a female to be carried to term. The controversy of cloning has reached new heights as advances in medical technology are bringing the prospects of human cloning closer and closer.

Currently the cloning of stem cells is the Millennium's 'Fountain of Youth' where cloned stem cells could be "much better at replacing tissue damaged by disease or age (New Scientist)." The prospects of cloning being able to cure such diseases as Parkinson's Disease and Cerebral Palsy make it important not to place a Congressional Ban on cloning.

In a recent New Scientist, these cloned stem cells "may be more vigorous because nuclear transfer - the key step in cloning - restores the "fuses," or telomeres, on chromosomes, which burn down as cells divide (Westphal)." Medical professionals are taking the initiative to research aspects of cloning that are beneficial to humankind. There are those that are looking towards cloning as a science-fiction answer to their desires to live forever, but proper regulatory laws and guidelines will establish that cloning is a part of medical science that should and will be used for the purpose of allowing people to live fully functional and healthy lives, and not reach immortal status.

Right-to-Life groups are the main propellant for a Congressional Ban "because they believe an embryo is human life and should not be destroyed. Interestingly, the groups have not gotten their allies in Congress to introduce bills to ban the destruction of embryos by fertility clinics, where couples routinely create more embryos than they need for in vitro fertilization. (Boston Globe)"

The fate of cloning is at a crossroads now as the GOP readies to reintroduce the bill to ban cloning. Recently the Boston Globe wrote "Therapeutic cloning will achieve the same unassailable status [as In Vitro fertilization] if it ever leads to successful treatments of Parkinson's disease, heart failure, or other serious conditions. But it will be deprived of the chance to prove itself, at least in this country, if the anticloning bill of GOP Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas is passed. (A12)"