Reproduction means the creation of an organism. There are two ways of reproduction; sexual and asexual or cloning. Although cloning is used with some plants and animals, human cloning is the centre of a debate. This essay firstly explains the methods of reproduction, secondly mentions reasons for cloning and lastly discusses some arguments against and for it.۱

There are two patterns of offspring. Sexual reproduction begins when a male’s sperm fertilizes a female’s egg to form a zygote. Another pattern is asexual reproduction to produce a clone. One method for making clones is called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) was used to clone Dolly, the sheep, in 1996. According to this method, genetic material is inserted into an empty egg cell. This creates new cells and forms the clones that are used for therapeutic purposes.۲

Cloning has been used in nature for thousands of years. It is implemented for various reasons; to produce some plants and animals with desired qualities, to extract some medicine through genetically engineered animals and to transplant a clone by SCNT to the patient in order to prohibit any rejection by the immune system. This is used to produce the stem cells that could differentiate to other kinds of cells and could cure diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.۳

The human cloning debate has risen to the highest level of courts. For instance, production of stem cells through human cloning is illegal in some countries but permitted in other countries. In the USA, however it was illegal for federal founds to be used to research stem cell lines and human cloning from August 2001, but US President Obama lifted federal funding limits in 9th of March 2009 (Stem cells 2009).۴

The origin of the controversy over human cloning is from the techniques used to create human embryo by SCNT. With these methods, starting a human clone line necessitates the destruction of a human embryo. Opponents of these kinds of studies argue that it is a human life and is entitled to survival. On the other hand, supporters insist that the beginning of life is only after the development of certain organs. So, there is not a human life to protect. Moreover, they also propose that excess embryos created for in vitro fertilization could be donated with consent and used for in research. This is allowed after obtaining a written permission from the woman for whom the embryo was created and her partner according to Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 in Australia. Finally, the government can introduce legislation to restrict the ethical risk. Accordance with this strategy, the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the USA set up a Human Embryonic Stem cell Registry which lists the cell lines meeting the criteria.۵

In conclusion, although the human cloning causes controversial debate as a researching method, it should be allowed to continue as a result of its potency in new medical sciences fields, with legislative and ethical supervisions.۶

 

References

Stem cells. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stemcells (accessed May 26, 2009)