1 Therapeutic Cloning Can Expand the Scope of Healthcare By Gabriel Chagolla Most everyone knows someone, whether it be a relative or family friend, who, at one point or another, has had medical issues that involve the need of an organ transplant. But, how many of us know someone who has successfully been selected for an organ transplant? The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services reports, “120,042 people need a lifesaving organ. Of those, 77,411 people are active waiting list candidates. On average, 22 people die each day while waiting for a transplant.” As unfortunate a circumstance as that is, advancements in technology now offer alternative methods for individuals to receive functioning organs without the cost of someone’s life, consequentially shortening the waiting list and increasing the amount of lives saved: therapeutic cloning. The amount of welfare that can be produced through therapeutic cloning has had many rethinking their position on the issue. There are many applications of therapeutic cloning in healthcare; the use of it as a source for organs has the most support. Although many people feel it decreases the value of human life, therapeutic cloning in healthcare should not http://www.commonwealthfund.org
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Therapeutic Cloning Can Expand the Scope of Healthcare...Human Cloning,” the ethical concerns surrounding the notion of cloning humans. Glannon clarifies, “It is worth emphasizing
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Therapeutic Cloning Can Expand the Scope of Healthcare
By Gabriel Chagolla
Most everyone knows someone,
whether it be a relative or family friend,
who, at one point or another, has had
medical issues that involve the need of an
organ transplant. But, how many of us know
someone who has successfully been selected
for an organ transplant? The U.S.
Department of Health & Human Services
reports, “120,042 people need a lifesaving
organ. Of those, 77,411 people are active
waiting list candidates. On average, 22
people die each day while waiting for a
transplant.” As unfortunate a circumstance
as that is, advancements in technology now
offer alternative methods for individuals to
receive functioning organs without the cost
of someone’s life, consequentially
shortening the waiting list and increasing the
amount of lives saved: therapeutic cloning.
The amount of welfare that can be
produced through therapeutic cloning has
had many rethinking their position on the
issue. There are many applications of
therapeutic cloning in healthcare; the use of
it as a source for organs has the most
support. Although many people feel it
decreases the value of human life,
therapeutic cloning in healthcare should not
http://www.commonwealthfund.org
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be banned because it positively impacts the
longevity and improvement of human life.
THE MORALITY QUESTION
The claim that therapeutic cloning is
ethically wrong is being revisited in greater
depth as technology advances. Many people
fear that uplifting the ban on the cloning of
humans will irreversibly dampen the value
of human life, and lead humanity down a
road in which there are no U-turns. The
Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity
states, “Human cloning for any purpose
opens the door to a ‘Brave New World,’ and
we must shut that door now.” It will
“critically diminish society… in the name of
autonomy and utilitarianism.” By cloning
humans, people believe therapeutic cloning
is not worth doing so just because the
technology is able to and want to for the
“greater good.” They feel that decreasing the
value of human life trumps any good that
could come from it. To go further, does it
decrease the value of human life by creating
a viable embryo as a source for stem cells in
order to grow organs and tissues that can
help the individual in need? These
individuals would argue that it certainly
reduces the value while also terminating the
embryo’s potential for life. However, this
claim is insufficient in that there is already
strong consideration for the aspects of
cloning that threaten the value of human life.
For example, Walter Glannon, philosophy
expert holding the Canada Research Chair in
Biomedical Ethics and Ethical Theory at the
University of Calgary in Alberta,
demonstrates in his article, “The Ethics of
Human Cloning,” the ethical concerns
surrounding the notion of cloning humans.
Glannon clarifies, “It is worth emphasizing
that the National Bioethics Advisory
Committee, while recommending a ban on
cloning human beings, did not also
recommend that research be restricted on the
cloning of human cells for the purpose of
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producing tissues, organs and bones”
(Glannon 295). Glannon goes on to mention
that the reason this is significant is because
by cloning these part of humans, which are
not essentially identical with humans and
have no intrinsic moral status of their own,
any disturbing ethical implications are
effectively sidestepped (Glannon 295).
Essentially, the author points out that the
National Bioethics Advisory Committee
does not believe that there should be a ban
on all human cloning research as so long as
it aims to improve human health. He
suggests that all ethical concerns are
eliminated if human cloning is performed
only on the parts of humans, such as skin
tissue, a liver or perhaps a femur, that would
otherwise hold no moral standing on their
own. He further asserts that the ultimate goal
of therapeutic cloning is not to clone a
human being to prove the sophistication of
science but rather to meet the demand of
those in need of lifesaving organs. In
response to the embryo’s potential for life,
the embryo created in therapeutic cloning
never has potential for life because it is
never inside a host’s body to begin with.
MEETING THE DEMAND
The demand for available organs
continues to be a struggle for healthcare
providers. According to the Organ
Procurement and Transplantation Network,
“Despite advances in medicine and
technology, and increased awareness of
organ donation and transplantation, the gap
between supply and demand continues to
widen.” Regardless of overwhelming efforts
to address the shortage of organs, it is
apparent that a new source to accessible
organs must be implemented.
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https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/ The graph shows how the gap between supply and demand for organs continues to increase.
The graph above indicates the continuous
rise of people in the United States that are in
need of a life saving organ, but are sadly
“left out in the cold” with no alternative to
turn to. It also seems to suggest there is no
reason to believe that this gap will ever
decrease; rather it is an inevitable part of
healthcare because there is no practical
method to accomplish this task, but there is.
And because of this method, millions of
people will have access to life saving organs
developed using their own DNA.
PRACTICAL METHODS
Therapeutic cloning technology is
capable of producing new organs using two
methods: cell mass division and somatic cell
nuclear transfer (SCNT). First, cell mass
division accomplishes its purpose by
splitting an early multi-celled embryo in
order to create two identical embryos
(weebly.com). In John Harris’ article,
“"Goodbye Dolly?" The Ethics of Human
Cloning,” he discusses the uses and abuses
of human cloning with the intent of
analyzing its ethical aspects. He states,
“Although the technique of cloning embryos
by cell mass division has, for some time
been used extensively in animal models, it
was used as a way of multiplying human
embryos for the first time in October 1993
when Jerry Hall and Robert Stillman at
George Washington Medical Centre cloned
human embryos by splitting early two- to
eight-cell embryos into single embryo cells”
(Harris 353). This is evidence cell mass
division could be a viable method that is
applicable to humans. Not to mention, the
technology and method have vastly
improved since 1993.
Second, the somatic cell nuclear
transfer technique has shown to be effective
in creating a viable embryo from a body cell
and an egg cell; the intent of this is to have a
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source of stem cells that can be used for
therapeutic cloning. SCNT involves taking
an enucleated egg cell (egg cell that has had
its nucleus removed) and implanting a donor
nucleus from a body cell (Wikipedia.org).
The technique can readily be applied to
therapeutic cloning as it has shown to be an
effective method in the cloning of “Dolly
the Sheep.” This famous sheep was the first
animal to be successfully cloned by the
SCNT technique. Similarly, in Jose B.
Cibelli’s “The First Human Cloned
Embryo,” he explains his therapeutic
cloning experiments are focused on
generating cloned human embryos in order
to yield stem cells. He writes, “We intended
to isolate human stem cells from the
blastocysts to serve as the starter stock for
growing replacement nerve, muscle and
other tissues” (Cibelli 1). In SCNT,
scientists use an extremely fine needle to
suck the genetic material from a mature egg.
They then inject the nucleus of the donor
cell (or sometimes a whole cell) into the
enucleated egg and incubate it under special
conditions that prompt it to divide and grow.
The success this technology has shown in
accomplishing this task dismisses any
skepticism that it does not yield any “real”
results.
Likewise, Wikipedia states, “The
resulting cells would be genetically identical
to the somatic cell donor, thus avoiding any
complications from immune system
rejection.” The new organ will be linked
specifically to the patient in need using their
own DNA to avoid any problems when
integrating it into the patient’s body. These
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/The image depicts the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) method removing the genetic material from a mature egg.
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cloning methods could address the need for
organs, and, thus, significantly benefit
people and change healthcare for the better,
which is why therapeutic cloning should be
implemented.
BENEFICENCE
The amount of welfare that can be
achieved through attainable organs by
therapeutic cloning is the single most
concrete reason to uplift the ban. According
to Simon Smith’s article, “The Benefits of
Human Cloning,” he asserts, “Embryonic
stem cells can be grown to produce organs
or tissues to repair or replace damaged
ones. Skin for burn victims, brain cells for
the brain damaged, spinal cord cells for
quadriplegics and paraplegics, hearts, lungs,
livers, and kidneys could be produced …
and other problems may be made curable if
human cloning and its technology are not
banned.” The writer highlights the variety of
organs that therapeutic cloning could supply
those in need. He argues the benefits are too
impactful to be denied. Similarly, according
to Health Research Funding, “The
advantages of cloning are also quite
apparent: human cloning could very well
lead to faster medical cures, a better overall
quality of life, and even longer life spans.”
The organs could provide longevity and
improve human health in ways that will
radically impact humans forever.
Many people are understandably
cautious when it comes to the moral
boundaries of modern advances in science.
However, the demand for organs prompts
the need for an innovative source that
escapes the most important ethical concern,
has practical methods, and whose aim is to
provide longevity and drastically improve
human health. Because therapeutic cloning
in healthcare can address the shortage of
organs by producing organs to replace
damaged ones, it should not banned since its
aim is to improve human health and is not
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ethically wrong. Moreover, the solution to a
vital part of human health is finally within
grasp and it is imperative that actions must
be taken, which in turn will expand the
scope of healthcare beyond what was
thought to be possible.
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Works Cited
"Cell Mass Division." The Ethics on the Cloning of Human Cells through the Implication of Stem
Cells. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.
Cibelli, Jose B. "The First Human Cloned Embryo." Scientific American. N.p., 21 Feb. 2002.
Web. 06 Nov. 2016.
Glannon, Walter. "The Ethics of Human Cloning." Public Affairs Quarterly 12.3 (1998): 287-
305. Web.
Harris, John. ""Goodbye Dolly?" The Ethics of Human Cloning." Journal of Medical Ethics 23.6
(1997): 353-60. Web.
"High Health Care Costs in the U.S. Explained." - The Commonwealth Fund. N.p., n.d. Web. 09
Nov. 2016.
"Journal of Medical Ethics." - BMJ Journals. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.
Knapton, Sarah. "Breakthrough in Human Cloning Offers New Transplant Hope." The
Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.