Stem Cell Research and Therapeutic Cloning

Stem Cell Research and Therapeutic Cloning

South Korea is taking the initiative in cloning and stem cell research. The authors of this article say that South Korea is taking steps to a tantalizing goal. The reason for describing this goal as tantalizing should be rephrased as tempting. The United States medical companies must see the financial gain to stem cell research and cloning. Therapeutic cloning is described as tailor-made replacement tissues, that seemed to suggest that this is the future despite all the ethical issues, it is time to go full throttle with this new medical technology.

In a more recent study in the U.S., Scientist have used skin cells to grow human tissue. United States scientists said they have successfully reprogrammed human skin cells to behave exactly as embryonic stem cells. The research was published in the Feb. 11 edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. This is the third such confirmation that the technique is feasible. "Our reprogrammed human skin cells were virtually indistinguishable from human embryonic stem cells," lead author Kathrin Plath, an assistant professor of biological chemistry at UCLA and a researcher with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, said in statement. "Our findings are an important step towards manipulating differentiated human cells to generate an unlimited supply of patient specific pluripotent stem cells. We are very excited about the potential implications."
Therapeutic cloning is in its infinite stages right now but it is hard to deny the consistent advantages of this process. In this type of cloning it rules out the chance of rejection of an organ as opposed to traditional organ donning by another human being. The risk of organ rejection is almost eliminated through therapeutic cloning. Using sophisticated techniques for cells that are extracted from the human body are genetically identical and lessen the risk of organ rejection. The South Korean scientists harvest embryos from a woman and creative culture that has the ability to turn into any cell in the body. To make these useful, scientists will turn them into particular cells and inject them back into people. Some cells work but not all do.

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity has a Christian analysis on this moral issue.

In conclusion, the ethical argument is that human embryos die. Embryos feel no pain and the benefit far outweighs the negative side to this procedure. The United States needs to invest in this technology now. How many people that are waiting for organ transplants will die waiting? He who hesitates is lost. The writing is on the wall. What are we waiting for?