Therapeutic cloning: A scientific breakthrough or a step too far? Ben Good George Collins. Word Count: Approx Grade Awarded June 2006: PASS

Transcription

1 Therapeutic cloning: A scientific breakthrough or a step too far? BY Ben Good George Collins Word Count: Approx 1400 Grade Awarded June 2006: PASS 1

2 Abstract The purpose of our paper is to investigate therapeutic cloning and hopefully come to a conclusion on whether or not therapeutic cloning is A scientific breakthrough or a step too far? To do this we will investigate many different areas involved in this new form of medicine. We will look at the process involved, the possible moral complications, the possible alternatives and what the experts think. Introduction In general the definition of cloning is the manufacturing of an organism that in whole or part is genetically identical to an original plant or animal. Therapeutic cloning (which can also be called Somatic cell transfer) differs greatly from reproductive cloning. Reproductive cloning is when DNA is removed from an embryo and replaced with DNA taken from a cell removed from an individual. The embryo would then be implanted into a women s womb. Thereafter it would grow up into a new human who is genetically identical to the individual whose DNA was implanted. The first example of this is Dolly the sheep. Therapeutic cloning involves taking stem cells and developing them into human tissue or a complete organ ready for transplantation and is key in the new developing field of regenerative medicine. Therapeutic cloning was first achieved in November 2001 by Advanced Cell Technology, a biotech company in Worcester, Massachusetts in the United States*. Advance cell technology released a press release on the 25 th of November 2001 telling the world that they had managed to succeed at cloning the embryos of mice and using the stem cells to create new cells claiming: That this work was performed in the mouse and needs to be extended to the human species. It would be tragic not to pursue all options and methods available to us to get this technology to the bedside as soon as possible * The therapeutic cloning process starts in the same way as reproductive cloning. DNA is removed from an embryo and replaced with that of the person who is going to receive the tissue or organ (nucleus transfer). The embryo is then allowed to grow for about four or five days. The embryo then consists of several hundred cells. The embryonic stem cells are removed, these form the basis of the highly specialised parts of the body. They are then incubated in solution and can be developed to form genetically identical human cells. *info from: 2

3 Pictures courtesy of: The possibilities of therapeutic cloning are immense, the use of stem cells could lead to the cure and prevention of many of today s diseases, these include: The production of dopamine producing cells, which when implanted into the brain could cure Parkinson s disease (this has been proven with a Parkinsonlike disease in an animal model) Insulin producing cells to combat Diabetes As well as the opportunity of curing various different forms of cancer There much debate as to whether or not therapeutic cloning is morally wrong and as to whether it should be legislated for or against. The view that reproductive cloning is immoral is held by the majority of people. A recent poll showed that 89% of people believe cloning people is morally wrong*. Therapeutic cloning is an even more complicated. The moral issue is divided between the desire for the improvement in medicine and the morality of the death of an embryo, a possible human being. One school of thought believes: "Somatic cell nuclear transfer (more commonly called therapeutic cloning) is about saving and improving lives. It is fundamentally different from human reproductive cloning; it produces stem cells, not babies." U.S. Newswire - ( *Information courtesy of a TV poll the results of which can be found on: 3

4 Whereas the other is quite adamant that: "I don t think there s any way that you can prevent the creation of human clones without stopping it from the beginning. We re talking about crossing a threshold here. We re no longer talking about using the quote-unquote excess embryo in the freezers for stem cell research. We re now talking about creating embryos for destructive research purposes." Representative Dave Weldon from Florida Cloning (Science at the edge), Sally Morgan, Heinemann 2002 At the moment the moral issues surrounding therapeutic cloning seem too great. There are only a few countries where research into the use of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is legal. The most notable being the United Kingdom. In 2002 the American Congress held a vote to choose out of two bills. The first banned all cloning outright, making researching it a criminal offence punishable by 10 years in prison and a $1 million dollar fine. The second exempted only therapeutic cloning. The vote sparked intense debate with everyone from the Catholic Church to the 40 Nobel laureates, who came forward to appeal not to tie the hands of scientists as they claimed the possibilities of therapeutic cloning are overwhelming. However the late Pope John Paul II issued a statement declaring that he believed it to be immoral saying:... [Medical] methods that fail to respect the dignity and value of the person must always be avoided. I am thinking in particular of attempts at human cloning with a view to obtaining organs for transplants: these techniques, in so far as they involve the manipulation and destruction of human embryos, are not morally acceptable, even when their proposed goal is good in itself." Pope John Paul II - Cloning after Dolly: who s still afraid? by Gregory E. Pence The vote in Congress was put off to await a global verdict from the United Nations (UN). A divided UN decided after much deliberation to release a general recommendation as opposed to a legal requirement. They have created a resolution calling on nations to ban all forms of human cloning which were incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life. * 1 Stem cell researchers do not believe that this applies to them. They have called the language vague and expressing concern that it could be interpreted to ban all forms of cloning, including stem cell research. The UN was much divided on this issue with the vote ending with a very significant number (43) choosing to abstain their vote. Among the anti-therapeutic cloning voters were Austria, Italy and Ireland. Britain, Canada and France voted for therapeutic cloning. The abstainees included Germany, Egypt and Turkey * 2. * 1 News report from February 18th 2005: * 2 Voting information from UN press release can be found at 4

5 As a result of the apparent inaction by the UN the debate in the US has reopened, with the decision between the two bills to take place in Therapeutic cloning may now surprisingly be a thing of the past with the discovery of new ultimate stem cells. The technical name for them is multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs) and they are found in the bone marrow of adults. This discovery was made by Catherine Verfaillie of the University of Minnesota on 23rd January 2002*. She has also proven that these cells can form muscle, cartilage, bone, liver and a large variety of neuron and brain cells. Proof that this cell really is that flexible is seen in the results of an experiment in which a solitary human MAPC is added to a mouse embryo*. The resulting mouse can be studied to discover that the MAPC is present in all of the mouse s body tissues. Unfortunately however this experiment does not prove that MAPC can become working cells, they could theoretically just gain the marker of a particular type of cell. If MAPCs truly can change into the full range of cells (which are genetically identical) and function identically to the donor s cells, then the issue of cloning would be much simpler. They could be used to create the same desired effect as ESCs without any of the moral implications. Therapeutic cloning is a complex subject with a wide variety of issues. My view after looking at the therapeutic cloning debate is that this greatly benefits medical research. Therefore most importantly the treatment and cure for future patients. With this in mind I believe that this far outweighs the moral argument. * 5

6 Acknowledgements The two pictures on pages 1 and 2 were obtained from the Stanford university website ( U.S newswire quote courtesy of ( News report (can be found on Poll on cloning from a television poll (results can be found on Pope John Paul II quote extracted from ( Advanced Cell press release retrieved from Information on MAPCs - Quote from representative Dave Weldon from Florida Cloning (Science at the edge), Sally Morgan Heinemann