Therapeutic Cloning Case Study
Therapeutic Cloning: Do the benefits outweigh the risks?
Therapeutic cloning is an evolutionary technology with the potential to significantly improve life quality and open doorways for technologies previously considered unattainable. This technology could be used to create organs for transplants constructed from the patient’s own genetic material, provide potential cures for some genetic diseases, all from an easily accessible source. However, there are numerous risks and costs involved with this process.
Cloning is the process of producing an organism genetically identical to another. Therapeutic cloning is the process of harvesting cloned embryotic stem cells to use in healing and rehabilitation. In therapeutic cloning, the embryo does …show more content…
For example, Neuroscientist Lorenz Studer, experimented on mice with a similar, induced disorder to Parkinson’s, where the neurotransmitter dopamine on one side of the brain was destroyed. They performed SCNT, withdrawing the initial cell from the sick mice and cultivated the embryonic stem cells into dopamine producing neurons. These were then grafted into the brain. The mice with the neuron grafts exhibited significant improvement in controlling the paw movement on the afflicted side (sciencemag). This experiment shows that, with the right research, curing debilitating diseases like Parkinson’s is an exciting …show more content…
With the combined cost of medical facilities, equipment and donor compensation, it is estimated that the research can cost $1000 per egg (Mombaerts P, Forbes). Furthermore, depending on the disease being researched, up to 1.5 billion eggs could be required (brighthub). That would necessitate a minimum of 500 000 willing volunteers for that disease alone (brighthub). Additionally, donors can experience significant adverse medical and psychological risks associated with the egg extraction process. For example, women risk contracting serious illnesses such as Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS), increased risk of breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers, infertility and psychological issues (see table 1) (stemcellbioethics). Considering this, the risks of researching potential cures far outweigh the
Therapeutic cloning is an evolutionary technology with the potential to significantly improve life quality and open doorways for technologies previously considered unattainable. This technology could be used to create organs for transplants constructed from the patient’s own genetic material, provide potential cures for some genetic diseases, all from an easily accessible source. However, there are numerous risks and costs involved with this process.
Cloning is the process of producing an organism genetically identical to another. Therapeutic cloning is the process of harvesting cloned embryotic stem cells to use in healing and rehabilitation. In therapeutic cloning, the embryo does …show more content…
For example, Neuroscientist Lorenz Studer, experimented on mice with a similar, induced disorder to Parkinson’s, where the neurotransmitter dopamine on one side of the brain was destroyed. They performed SCNT, withdrawing the initial cell from the sick mice and cultivated the embryonic stem cells into dopamine producing neurons. These were then grafted into the brain. The mice with the neuron grafts exhibited significant improvement in controlling the paw movement on the afflicted side (sciencemag). This experiment shows that, with the right research, curing debilitating diseases like Parkinson’s is an exciting …show more content…
With the combined cost of medical facilities, equipment and donor compensation, it is estimated that the research can cost $1000 per egg (Mombaerts P, Forbes). Furthermore, depending on the disease being researched, up to 1.5 billion eggs could be required (brighthub). That would necessitate a minimum of 500 000 willing volunteers for that disease alone (brighthub). Additionally, donors can experience significant adverse medical and psychological risks associated with the egg extraction process. For example, women risk contracting serious illnesses such as Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS), increased risk of breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers, infertility and psychological issues (see table 1) (stemcellbioethics). Considering this, the risks of researching potential cures far outweigh the