Bugnay, Jula Claire

HUMAN CLONING
1. It the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human.
2. It does not refer to the natural conception and delivery of identical
twins.
3. It refers to the reproduction of human cells and tissue.

TYPES OF HUMAN CLONING

1. THERAPEUTIC CLONING
- Involve cloning cells from a human for use of medicine and transplants.
2. REPRODUCTIVE CLONING
- Involve making an entire cloned human, instead of just specific cells or tissues.

METHODS OF HUMAN CLONING

1. SOMATIC CELL NUCLEAR TRANSFER (SCNT)

 It is use in therapeutic cloning wherein the purpose is to produce embryos for use in stem
cell research.

Process of SCNT:

1. The nucleus of a somatic cell is taken from a donor and transplanted into a host egg
cell, which had its own genetic material removed previously, making it an
enucleated egg.
2. After the donor somatic cell genetic material is transferred into the host oocyte
with a micropipette, the somatic cell genetic material is fused with the egg using an
electric current.
3. Once the two cells have fused, the new cell can be permitted to grow in a surrogate
or artificially.

ADVANTAGES OF SCNT:

1. The major advantage of SCNT at this time is the speed with which cells can be
produced. SCNT would take a much shorter time, which could be important for
medical applications.
2. Another advantage SCNT could have its potential to treat mitochondrial disease,
as it utilizes a donor oocyte. No other advantages are known at this time in
 using stem cells derived from one method over stem cells derived from the
other.

2. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)

 Creating induced pluripotent stem cells ("iPSCs") is a long and inefficient process.
Pluripotency refers to a stem cell that has the potential to differentiate into any of the three
germ layers: endoderm (interior stomach lining, gastrointestinal tract, the lungs), mesoderm
(muscle, bone, blood, urogenital), or ectoderm (epidermal tissues and nervous system). A
specific set of genes, often called "reprogramming factors", are introduced into a specific
adult cell type. These factors send signals in the mature cell that cause the cell to become a
pluripotent stem cell. This process is highly studied and new techniques are being
discovered frequently on how to better this induction process.
 Depending on the method used, reprogramming of adult cells into iPSCs for implantation
could have severe limitations in humans. If a virus is used as a reprogramming factor for the
cell, cancer-causing genes called oncogenes may be activated. These cells would appear as
rapidly dividing cancer cells that do not respond to the body's natural cell signaling process.
However, in 2008 scientists discovered a technique that could remove the presence of these
oncogenes after pluripotency induction, thereby increasing the potential use of iPSC in
humans.

ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS

1. RELIGIOUS VIEWS:
a. Christianity- Many conservative Christian groups have opposed human cloning and the
cloning of human embryos, since they believe that life begins at the moment of conception.

Some Christian Denomination who opposes Human Cloning:

 United Church of Christ
 The World Council of Churches
 United Methodist Church

b. Islam

The prominent opposes Human Cloning:

 Yusuf Al Qaradawi (Qatari scholar) believes that cloning specific parts of the human body for
medical purposes is not prohibited in Islam, but to clone the whole human body would not be
permitted under any circumstances but on the issue of animal ethics he takes a more lenient
position.
 Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah did not see cloning as illegitimate. He also stressed that Islam
encourages the pursuit of the sciences including medicine. The Ayatollah did however warn
against cloning the entire human being for the purpose of harvesting his or her organs.
 Sunni Muslims consider human cloning to be forbidden by Islam.
 The Islamic Fiqh Academy, in its Tenth Conference proceedings, which was convened in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia in the period from June 28, 1997 to July 3, 1997, issued a Fatwā stating that human
cloning is haraam (sinful).

c. Judaism
 Judaism does not equate life with conception and, though some question the wisdom
of cloning, Orthodox rabbis generally find no firm reason in Jewish law and ethics to
object to cloning. Liberal Jewish thinkers have cautioned against cloning, among other
genetic engineering efforts, though some prize the potential medical advantages.

d. Raëlism
 Raëlism is the only religious group of which any part (specifically, the religion's medical
arm Clonaid) has claimed to have successfully cloned a human being. Clonaid claims that
cloning will bring humanity closer to immortality.

2. MEDICAL ISSUES

 Possible miscarriage or still birth

 Deformities
 Unforeseen deaths in later life of the clone
 Health risks from mutated genes
 Developmental delays
 Lung problems
 Heart defects
 Neurological disorder
 Unstable immune system

3. WORLD ISSUES
 Canada – prohibits any type of human cloning that would duplicate human being.
 Costa Rica- “Any manipulation or alteration of an embryo’s genetic code is
prohibited, as is any kind of experimentation with embryos.”
 Panama- prohibits financing, promotion, donating experiments research of any kind
of cloning.
 United Kingdom- prohibit placing a human embryo into a woman (other than for
fertilization)
 Great Britain- it is legal for therapeutic purposes only.
 Philippines- prohibit any type of human cloning even if it would results in cures for
various diseases.
List of Advantages of Cloning
1. It helps infertile couples to bear children.
One big advantage of cloning is that it allows infertile couples to reproduce, and the child would
be genetically modified to fit what the parents want to appeal to other people. During the process,
somatic cells are acquired from the male’s sperm and are injected into the female’s egg for fertilization.
By the time the embryo has developed, it is then implanted to a surrogate mother, who will carry it for 9
months until birth. This means cloning can potentially ease fertility problems. What’s more, the children
produced will have the DNAs and qualities of both parents, instead of just one of them.
2. It has great contribution to organ replacement.
Genetic cloning allows scientists to take small amounts of cells from a certain organ and use
them to generate and harvest new organs that are entirely functioning. Considering the huge number of
people on organ donation waiting lists, this is extremely beneficial.
3. It allows for growing eminent individuals.
Historical and very influential people can be possibly re-created. Theoretically, someone like
Martin Luther King Jr. or Albert Einstein can be brought back to life by cloning. This means we will be
able to have such knowledgeable individuals to educate and help people in today’s world.
4. Cure for Diseases.
Starting with the same procedure as adult DNA cloning, therapeutic cloning allows a resultant
embryo to grow for days, where the stem cells would then be extracted and encouraged to grow into
human tissue or complete human organs that will be used for transplants or treatments of certain
diseases. The end result would not be a human being, but rather a piece of nerve tissue, replacement
organ or quantity of skin.

List of Disadvantages of Cloning

1. It comes with a degree of uncertainty as of yet.
There are still a lot of repercussions and effects of cloning that remain unknown to date. After
all, it is a new world of science that is still continually being discovered, and there is no convincing way
to tell what the mental, social and medical consequences may be endured due to it. Also, the research
and testing that are needed before embarking on something as insane as cloning humans still does not
exist. Considering the problems that already exist with animal cloning, we can safely presume that the
procedure will be a very large obstacle to begin with.
2. It is expected to bring about new diseases.
One of the real possibilities of cloning is cell mutation, which is known to result in new and more
aggressive genetic diseases to begin within humans, creating a lot of problems. In fact, many people
believe that such an event will be the demise of civilization.
3. It might lead to problems in organ rejection.
As stated above, cloning can cause cell mutation, which is still highly possible even if the
technique uses the cells of the recipient’s organ. This can result to a substantial difference in the cell
make-up between the original and replicated organ.
4. It decreases gene diversity.
The ability of humans to live greatly relies on the diversity of genes, which comes from parents
who have different sets of genes. One big disadvantage of identical genes is that they will weaken our
adaptations and power, which can make us subjected to certain diseases easily. Moreover, we should
remember that the beauty of humanity lies in the differences among individuals, and cloning ruins this.
Not to mention that it would eliminate surprise and predict expectancy.
5. In-Breeding.
One of the most unfavorable consequences of cloning is in-breeding, where everyone will be
having the same genotypes, which can keep reproducing among themselves. This means this procedure
would lead us to extinction. As what Richard Nicholson of the British Bulletin of Medical Ethics said,
research on cloning may well be “sowing the seeds of our own destruction.”
6. It can lead to disruption of parenting and family life.
The basic concept of family is couples falling in love and determining to care for each other.
Then, they may decide to have children whom they will love dearly. But with cloning, parents involved
will tend to only value their children according to how much they look like themselves.
7. It can cause a further divide.
These days, there is already a bit of divide among people, whether it is due to race, language or
social status—discrimination and prejudice certainly exist. Now, for cloned humans, they would feel as if
they are not as “human” as other people who are not born out of cloning.
8. Unbalance to the Society
Many people think that it is ridiculous to separate reproduction from love and other human
relationships, thus cloning would may arise social side effects.
9. It poses the risk of being abused.
There is always a risk of cloning technology being abused, so scientists should do their best to
keep the technology closely monitored. For instance, you can just imagine what a corrupt dictator could
do with cloning. Truth be told, there will always be someone looking to use such technology for his own
advantage, and many feel that the best way to prevent this scenario is not pursuing cloning at all.
 HUMAN CLONING

SUBMITTED BY:
GROUP 4:

BUGNAY, JULA CLAIRE

MARTINEZ, KERWIN
PEY-AG, JENIVEB

SUBMITTED TO:

SIR LEONARDO SAMONTE

Professor