In 2005 the United Nations passed a nonbinding Declaration on Human Cloning that calls upon member states “to adopt all measures necessary to prohibit all forms of human cloning inasmuch as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life.” This does provide leeway for member countries to pursue therapeutic cloning. These licenses ensure that human embryos are cloned for legitimate therapeutic and research purposes aimed at obtaining scientific knowledge about disease and human development. Get the latest public health information from CDC: https://www.coronavirus.gov. This news quickly spread around the world causing both excitement at the possibilities that cloning techniques could offer, as well as apprehension about the ethical, social and legal implications should human reproductive cloning become possible. J Med Ethics. Human reproductive cloning remains universally condemned, primarily for the psychological, social, and physiological risks associated with cloning. 2008 Aug;34(8):619-23. doi: 10.1136/jme.2007.021980. [Cloning: applications in humans. 2005 Mar;10 Suppl 1:50-5. doi: 10.1016/s1472-6483(10)62206-7. 2005 Mar;10 Suppl 1:56-9. doi: 10.1016/s1472-6483(10)62207-9. Black Friday Sale! Most supporters also argue that the embryo demands special moral consideration, requiring regulation and oversight by funding agencies. 2008 Feb;22(2):130-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2007.00603.x. It is presumed that nuclear transfer and any other form of cloning is subject to this restriction. The American bioethicist Leon Kass,…, >cloning. Human reproductive cloning and reasons for deprivation. Get the latest research from NIH: https://www.nih.gov/coronavirus. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. There are laws and international conventions that attempt to uphold certain ethical principles and regulations concerning cloning. This article addresses the question of whether human reproductive cloning could be ethically justifiable in at least some cases involving infertile couples who would choose cloning as a way to have a genetically related child. National Center for Biotechnology Information, Unable to load your collection due to an error, Unable to load your delegates due to an error. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. Find NCBI SARS-CoV-2 literature, sequence, and clinical content: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sars-cov-2/. Here is a discussion about the ethical issues that have arisen concerned with cloning humans. HHS In addition, it is important to many philosophers and policy makers that women and couples not be exploited for the purpose of obtaining their embryos or eggs. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. A cloned embryo intended for implantation into a womb requires thorough molecular testing to fully determine whether an embryo is healthy and whether the cloning process is complete. J Med Ethics. Human cloning more typically refers to “reproductive cloning,” the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to obtain eggs that could develop into adult individuals. Ethical considerations]. However, those who support therapeutic cloning believe that there is a moral imperative to heal the sick and to seek greater scientific knowledge. The general agreement among opponents of the debate is that reproductive cloning- with the objective of producing a human genetic copy offspring- is unethical. Human cloning may refer to “therapeutic cloning,” particularly the cloning of embryonic cells to obtain organs for transplantation or for treating injured nerve cells and other health purposes. The cloning debate has involved scientists, lawmakers, religious leaders, philosophers and international organizations, but has not always ended amicably. 2016 May;83(2):179-191. doi: 10.1080/00243639.2016.1180773. In reproductive cloning, a nucleus is extracted from a cell of the individual to be cloned and is inserted into the enucleated cytoplasm of a host egg (an enucleated egg is an egg cell that has had its own nucleus removed). The United States federal government has not passed any laws regarding human cloning due to disagreement within the legislative branch about whether to ban all cloning or to ban only reproductive cloning.