Cloning is a scientific advancement that has the possibility of changing human lives for the better. Today, the world is faced with several medical hurdles to a point that avoiding the concept of cloning would be the proverbial ‘burying our heads in the sand’. This research will seek to illustrate medical and clinical applications of cloning that have immense medical benefit to human beings.
The hypothesis that human cloning has medical benefits to mankind will be illustrated in several broad contexts. The first context that the research will examine is reproductive cloning. In 1997, the scientific world witnessed a milestone after the successful reproduction of Dolly, the Sheep . This milestone confirmed that science has the ability to overcome natural deficiencies in reproduction. This research will review the two methods of reproductive cloning, which is, one, using of somatic cell nuclear transfer and two embryo-splitting cloning processes. The research will further illustrate how clones will achieve healthier lives devoid of medical concerns associated mixing of cell chromosomes associated with the normal reproductive process.
The second scientific context that the research will review is referred to as nuclear transplantation with the aim of producing stem cells. Stem cell research has faced several hurdles with debate revolving around the manner in which stem cells are harvested. The cloning process addresses this issue. Cloning process may be used to generate pluripotent embryonic stem cells that identical to the cells of the transplant recipient . This research paper will illustrate how cloning may be applied in stem cell and the advantages that accompany stem cell technology.
Thirdly, cloning has been widely used in testing of medicines. This is so because cloning has been used to develop clonal cell lines which are identical large numbers of cells that can be used to test new medicines. Advancement in this section may allow scientists test new medicines without having to use human beings in the earlier stages of development. Human test subject can be introduced at a much later stage when the medicines are deemed safer for human tests.
In doing this, the research will heavily rely on literature reviews. The works reviewed will be peer reviewed or journal articles and workshop or conference proceedings. Either, the research will rely on books and other scholarly articles. Websites such as National Academies of Science will provide succinct reviews regarding the same.
Works Cited
Johnson, Judith A. Human Cloning. Boston: DIANE Publishing, 2011.
Jones, David. "Cloning and Stem Cell Research; A Submission to The House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research." 1 June 2001. www.lifeissues.net. 24 October 2012
National Research Council. Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning. 2002. 24 October 2012
