• However, following the successful derivation of human embryonic stem cells in 1998, the debate over human cloning largely shifted to the question of whether it is acceptable for scientists to create human embryos only to destroy them. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • It is the policy of Washington state that research involving the derivation and use of human embryonic stem cells, human embryonic germ cells, and human adult stem cells from any source, including somatic cell nuclear transplantation , is permitted upon full consideration of the ethical and medical implications of this research. (cbc-network.org)
  • this approach has been championed as an answer to the many issues concerning embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and the destruction of viable embryos for medical use, though questions remain on how homologous the two cell types truly are. (wikipedia.org)
  • The blastocyst stage is developed by the egg to help create embryonic stem cells from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst. (wikipedia.org)
  • Embryonic stem cells are undifferentiated cells of an embryo. (wikipedia.org)
  • In the United States, scientists at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the University of California San Francisco, the Oregon Health & Science University, Stemagen (La Jolla, CA) and possibly Advanced Cell Technology are currently researching a technique to use somatic cell nuclear transfer to produce embryonic stem cells. (wikipedia.org)
  • Long before the controversy emerged over human embryonic stem cells, scientists and doctors began using first-generation stem cells from adult bone marrow. (eppc.org)
  • Already, non-embryonic stem cells are being used to treat a variety of diseases-most notably certain cancers of the blood. (eppc.org)
  • Adult stem cells are easier to control than embryonic stem cells and thus less likely to form tumors. (eppc.org)
  • Before leaving office, President Clinton sought to get around the existing law without actually changing it, by funding research on embryonic stem cells so long as the actual embryo destruction was paid for with private dollars. (eppc.org)
  • if you have a choice of starting material and are forced to use embryonic stem cells to carry out the invention, ensure you describe the use of embryonic stem cells from morally acceptable sources in your patent application. (schlich.co.uk)
  • The primary cloning technique is called "somatic cell nuclear transfer" (SCNT). (cbc-network.org)
  • In genetics and developmental biology, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a laboratory strategy for creating a viable embryo from a body cell and an egg cell. (wikipedia.org)
  • Somatic cell nuclear transfer is a technique for cloning in which the nucleus of a somatic cell is transferred to the cytoplasm of an enucleated egg. (wikipedia.org)
  • The process of somatic cell nuclear transfer involves two different cells. (wikipedia.org)
  • Cloning-to-produce-children could also be used to attempt to control the physical and even psychological traits of children, extending the eugenic logic of those who would use reproductive biotechnology to have the perfect child. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • Other policy options, such as supposed compromises that would prohibit "reproductive cloning" but permit "therapeutic cloning" by prohibiting not the act of creating a cloned embryo but the act of transferring a cloned embryo to a woman's uterus, would inherently mandate the wide-scale destruction of human embryos. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • If it is to be brought to birth, the process is usually called "reproductive cloning. (cbc-network.org)
  • It is used in both therapeutic and reproductive cloning. (wikipedia.org)
  • In 1996, Dolly the sheep became famous for being the first successful case of the reproductive cloning of a mammal. (wikipedia.org)
  • Stem cells can then be obtained by the destruction of this clone embryo for use in therapeutic cloning or in the case of reproductive cloning the clone embryo is implanted into a host mother for further development and brought to term. (wikipedia.org)
  • But we can only wonder about the ethical propriety of producing the first human child with this technique, knowing that the hoped-for newborn would be a reproductive experiment, one that may end initially in numerous fetal failures. (eppc.org)
  • Reproductive Cloning - Use of a donor cell to create a new human genetically identical to the donor. (schlich.co.uk)
  • If the cloned human organism is to be experimented upon and destroyed, the process is often called "therapeutic cloning. (cbc-network.org)
  • But adult stem cells also raise some interesting ethical dilemmas alongside their great therapeutic promise. (eppc.org)
  • Therapeutic Cloning - Use of a donor cell to create pluripotent stem cells suitable for growing tissues for implantation into the donor or other patient. (schlich.co.uk)
  • The aim of carrying out this procedure is to obtain pluripotent cells from a cloned embryo. (wikipedia.org)
  • This gives them the ability to create patient specific pluripotent cells, which could then be used in therapies or disease research. (wikipedia.org)
  • These cells are deemed to have a pluripotent potential because they have the ability to give rise to all of the tissues found in an adult organism. (wikipedia.org)
  • Controversy surrounds human ESC work due to the destruction of viable human embryos, leading scientists to seek alternative methods of obtaining pluripotent stem cells, SCNT is one such method. (wikipedia.org)
  • In addition, the possibility of reprogramming adult stem cells back to a "pluripotent" (or embryonic-like) state raises the biological prospect of going back too far. (eppc.org)
  • This kind of cloning is today being performed at several scientific labs in the United States, despite the availability of alternative techniques that produce cells of nearly the same scientific and medical value but that require neither the creation nor destruction of human embryos. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • Research advocates attack President Bush for "banning stem cell research," while pro-life advocates lament a Republican administration and Congress that have banned nothing-not embryo destruction, not human cloning, not fetal farming, not genetic engineering. (eppc.org)
  • That is to say, we risk turning developed cells into developing embryos, and thus risk engaging in the very activities of embryo destruction and human cloning that we seek to avoid. (eppc.org)
  • Since 1995, Congress has annually reauthorized a law-called the "Dickey Amendment"-prohibiting federal funding for research "in which" embryos are destroyed while leaving embryo destruction in the private sector entirely unregulated. (eppc.org)
  • In a new preface, Harris offers a glimpse at the new science and technology to come, equipping readers with the knowledge to assess the ethics and policy dimensions of future forms of human enhancement. (philpapers.org)
  • If the authors of this bill really meant what they appear to have written, their legislation would ban all human cloning, since as we have seen, biologically, a new human organism, that is, a new human being, comes into existence with the completion of SCNT. (cbc-network.org)
  • This is junk biology since implanting isn't the act of asexual reproduction: SCNT cloning is. (cbc-network.org)
  • In human SCNT experiments, these eggs are obtained through consenting donors, utilizing ovarian stimulation. (wikipedia.org)
  • For example, if a person with Parkinson's disease donated their somatic cells, the stem cells resulting from SCNT would have genes that contribute to Parkinson's disease. (wikipedia.org)
  • Another application of SCNT stem cell research is using the patient specific stem cell lines to generate tissues or even organs for transplant into the specific patient. (wikipedia.org)
  • Only a handful of the labs in the world are currently using SCNT techniques in human stem cell research. (wikipedia.org)
  • This form of genetic engineering would deny the children it produces an open future, burdening them with the expectation that they will be like the individuals from whom they were cloned. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • And cloning could make possible still more dramatic forms of genetic engineering. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • The genetic material of the donor egg cell is removed and discarded, leaving it 'deprogrammed. (wikipedia.org)
  • In Enhancing Evolution, leading bioethicist John Harris dismantles objections to genetic engineering, stem-cell research, designer babies, and cloning and makes an ethical case for biotechnology that is both forthright and rigorous. (philpapers.org)
  • Human enhancement, Harris argues, is a good thing--good morally, good for individuals, good as social policy, and good for a genetic heritage that needs serious improvement. (philpapers.org)
  • The United States government can, and must, outlaw human cloning. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • And now Washington joins the infamous list with Senate Bill 5594, a thoroughly disingenuous piece of legislation that purports to outlaw the cloning of human beings, but by manipulating language and redefining terms, actually permits human cloning and gestation of the resulting cloned embryos through the ninth month. (cbc-network.org)
  • Citizens disagree about whether we should destroy human embryos for their stem cells-and if so, which embryos, with whose money, under what regulatory guidelines. (eppc.org)
  • When the world learned in 1997 of Dolly the sheep, the first clone produced from an adult mammal, a broad public discussion about the ethics of human cloning ensued, largely focused on the nature, meaning, and future of human procreation. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • Cloning of a human being" means asexual reproduction by implanting or attempting to implant the product of nuclear transplantation [e.g., an embryo] into a uterus or substitute for a uterus with the purpose of producing a human being. (cbc-network.org)
  • Somatic cell nuclear transplantation has become a focus of study in stem cell research. (wikipedia.org)
  • The holy grail of regenerative medicine-whatever one's ethical beliefs about destroying embryos-is to "reprogram" regular cells from one's own body so that individuals can be the source of their own rejection-proof therapies. (eppc.org)
  • We now see a patent landscape where stem cell technologies and related therapies can, with very few exceptions, be protected via patents, provided the appropriate form of claim wording is used. (schlich.co.uk)
  • Stem cell technologies promise to be the next transformative medical technology offering therapies for conditions and diseases that are currently beyond medical science by creating replacement or supplementary tissues for a patient. (schlich.co.uk)
  • The genetically modified egg now has 46 chromosomes, the full human compliment. (cbc-network.org)
  • These cells genetically matched the donor organism from which they came. (wikipedia.org)
  • A potential use of stem cells genetically matched to a patient would be to create cell lines that have genes linked to a patient's particular disease. (wikipedia.org)
  • The resulting cells would be genetically identical to the somatic cell donor, thus avoiding any complications from immune system rejection. (wikipedia.org)
  • your supposed cloning ban actually authorizes human cloning, implantation, and gestation through the ninth month. (cbc-network.org)
  • That is what New Jersey legislators did when they passed and then Governor James McGreevey signed S-1909 last year, a law that was sold to the public as outlawing human cloning but which actually permits the creation of cloned human life, and its implantation and gestation up to and including the very moment prior to the emergence of the cloned baby from the birth canal. (cbc-network.org)
  • Or to put it the other way around, cloning, not implantation, is what produces a new and distinct human organism. (cbc-network.org)
  • Cloning-for-biomedical-research also endangers the health and safety of the women called on to undergo dangerous hormone treatments to serve as egg donors. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • Stem cell technologies have been dogged by controversy because of objections over the morality of sacrificing human embryos to produce the first human embryonic stem cell lines. (schlich.co.uk)
  • The report offers an ethical and policy analysis, articulating what makes cloning morally repugnant and calling for the practice to be definitively prohibited in the United States. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • The nucleus of a body cell from the DNA donor is removed, and put into the place formerly occupied by the egg's nucleus. (cbc-network.org)
  • The technique consists of taking an denucleated oocyte (egg cell) and implanting a donor nucleus from a somatic (body) cell. (wikipedia.org)
  • Today, we can derive stem cells from a range of adult and newborn tissues: liver cells, kidney cells, brain cells, fat cells, and umbilical cord blood. (eppc.org)
  • reagents made using a patient's own cells used to regenerate disease or damaged tissues 14,15 , once the stuff of science fiction, may become science fact. (schlich.co.uk)
  • Not only would cloning-to-produce-children be a dangerous experimental procedure, one that cannot be consented to by its subjects (the children created by it), it is also a profound distortion of the moral meaning of human procreation. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • Over the past few years, the debate over stem cells and cloning has grown both more complex and more profound. (eppc.org)
  • At that point - and this is important to understand - there is no more cloning to be done since a new human organism now exists. (cbc-network.org)
  • Development will ensue normally and after many mitotic divisions, the single cell forms a blastocyst (an early stage embryo with about 100 cells) with an identical genome to the original organism (i.e. a clone). (wikipedia.org)
  • While stem-cell research holds enormous potential for treating or even curing some diseases, the cloning of a human being is morally and ethically unacceptable…Any attempt to clone a human being is in direct conflict with the public policies of this state. (cbc-network.org)
  • Stem cells offer the prospect of treatments for diseases and injuries that are currently beyond medical science. (schlich.co.uk)
  • Stem cells may underpin the next generation of pharmaceuticals, with even greater promise for successful treatment of diseases that are intractable or scarcely treatable now. (schlich.co.uk)
  • But cloning research continued, and American scientists announced in 2013 that they had for the first time successfully obtained stem cells from cloned human embryos. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • Although the latest scientific work related to cloning has been focused on potential medical applications, much of that research is relevant to the creation of cloned children. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • Cloning-for-biomedical-research is also profoundly unethical, as it turns human reproduction into a manufacturing process in the most literal sense: human embryos are created to serve as raw materials for the production of biomedical research supplies. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • If research cloning is not stopped now, we face the prospect of the mass farming of human embryos and fetuses, and the transformation of the noble enterprise of biomedical research into a grotesque system of exploitation and death. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • The Threat of Human Cloning concludes by calling for laws prohibiting both human cloning and the creation of embryos for research. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • The bill purports to promote stem-cell research, while outlawing the cloning of a human being. (cbc-network.org)
  • But they are also less equipped to produce every cell type of the body and less able to reproduce themselves indefinitely, which makes them less appealing to scientists interested in basic research. (eppc.org)
  • These moral perils are surely not a reason to oppose adult stem cell research, which deserves vigorous and expanded public support. (eppc.org)
  • In the case of asexually creating a human, the biotechnologist removes the nucleus from a mature human egg (an oocyte). (cbc-network.org)
  • In July 2005, for example, scientists announced that they had engineered adult mouse stem cells into usable mouse eggs, a technique that might one day allow for the creation of human eggs from ordinary human cells. (eppc.org)
  • The New Atlantis is building a culture in which science and technology work for, not on, human beings. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • Skin cells, fat cells, and liver cells are only a few examples. (wikipedia.org)
  • There are now two ways to create new mammalian life, including humans. (cbc-network.org)
  • This ability allows stem cells to create any cell type, which could then be transplanted to replace damaged or destroyed cells. (wikipedia.org)
  • Last May, the House of Representatives passed a bill to create a cord blood stem cell bank, legislation that is likely to become law with virtually unanimous support. (eppc.org)
  • After the somatic cell transfers, the cytoplasmic factors affect the nucleus to become a zygote. (wikipedia.org)
  • After being inserted into the egg, the somatic cell nucleus is reprogrammed by its host egg cell. (wikipedia.org)
  • The second way to reproduce is a strictly human invention - known as "asexual" reproduction - or more commonly, cloning. (cbc-network.org)
  • In January 2018, a team of scientists in Shanghai announced the successful cloning of two female crab-eating macaques (named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua) from foetal nuclei. (wikipedia.org)
  • The Threat of Human Cloning begins by laying out the scientific and policy background of the cloning debates. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • But if we are to make wise policy the stem cell/cloning arena, we need to step back, sort out the various scientific alternatives and moral issues, and search for a way forward that all citizens can embrace. (eppc.org)
  • Moreover, while the term "human being" is not defined in the legislation, in this context, it can only mean the birth of a cloned baby. (cbc-network.org)
  • To this end, we offer a detailed analysis of the stem cell/cloning question-where is the science, what are the political alternatives, and what moral obligations should guide us? (eppc.org)
  • The subsequent discovery of promising alternative techniques for generating stem cells without creating or destroying embryos seemed to show that scientific progress would obviate the demand for cloning. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • The Honeycomb Game is a word-building game: make words by clicking on cells in the honeycomb below. (claylane.uk)
  • But it is important to understand these are not different types of cloning. (cbc-network.org)
  • Experts disagree about the usefulness of the various cell types. (eppc.org)
  • The second being a somatic cell, referring to the cells of the human body. (wikipedia.org)
  • A little shot of electricity comes next, and if all goes well, a new human cloned embryo comes into being and begins to develop in the same way as a sexually created embryo. (cbc-network.org)
  • The disease specific stem cell lines could then be studied in order to better understand the condition. (wikipedia.org)
  • Furthermore, the first source of stem cell technology is controversial. (schlich.co.uk)
  • Patent law around the world has now developed to define the boundaries between stem cell technologies that can be patented and those that cannot. (schlich.co.uk)
  • Far more controversial-and for good reason-are stem cells derived from destroyed human embryos. (eppc.org)
  • In particular the European Patent Office, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Japan Patent Office and State Intellectual Property Office of China have published guidelines covering patenting of stem cell technologies in the light of recent decisions. (schlich.co.uk)
  • This report - written to be understood by non-specialists, including policymakers and the general public - explains the history of cloning as well as recent developments. (thenewatlantis.com)
  • The greater legal certainty provided by recent court cases means that patent rights, and the investment they attract, can be secured for human embryonic stem-cell based technologies. (schlich.co.uk)