Therapeutic Cloning Is Immoral
Therapeutic Cloning to Obtain Embryonic Stem Cells Is Immoral
"The point is to cause each of us to think deeply about whether there is any essential difference between the reality of [World War II] Nazi experiments and 'therapeutic cloning.'"
In this two-part viewpoint, David A. Prentice and William Saunders discuss the science and the ethics of therapeutic cloning. In the first part, Prentice argues that creating clones for the purpose of embryonic stem cell research, called "therapeutic cloning," is no different from reproductive cloning, which creates a living human child. Also, he points out, therapeutic cloning is not therapeutic for the embryo. In the second part of the viewpoint, Saunders builds on Prentice's argument and goes even …show more content…
What was the point of the Nuremberg Code, according to Saunders?
3. Why does Saunders say that therapeutic cloning violates the Nuremberg Code?
Part I
Cloning always starts with an embryo. The most common technique proposed for human cloning is called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). This cloning is accomplished by transferring the nucleus from a human somatic (body) cell into an egg cell which has had its chromosomes removed or inactivated. SCNT produces a human embryo who is virtually genetically identical to an existing or previously existing human being.
Proponents of human cloning hold out two hopes for its use: (1) the creation of children for infertile couples (so-called "reproductive cloning"), and (2) the development of medical miracles to cure diseases by harvesting embryonic stem cells from the cloned embryos of patients (euphemistically termed "therapeutic cloning").
All Human Cloning Produces a Human …show more content…
Recall how they used the term "therapeutic" to describe not the helping of suffering people, but the killing of them. Recall that the Nazis eliminated those "unworthy of life" in order to improve the genetic stock of Germany. Recall how the Nazis undertook lethal experiments on concentration camp inmates in order, in some cases, to find ways to preserve the lives of others.
The point is not to suggest that those who support "therapeutic cloning" are, in any sense, Nazis. Rather, the point is to cause each of us to think deeply about whether there is any essential difference between the reality of those Nazi experiments and "therapeutic cloning." As we have shown, each case involves a living human being, and that human being is killed in the aim of a perceived "higher" good.
Cloning proponents try to distinguish between the two cases by saying that the cloned human being has no "potential." But in each case, it is the actions of other human beings that rob the first of "potential" (in the first case, the actions of Nazi executioners; in the second, the laboratory technicians). In either case, the human subject is full of potential simply by being a living human being. Of course, almost miraculously, many of the inmates of the camps did survive when the allies rescued them. Equally miraculously, frozen embryos have been implanted in a woman's womb and brought to live (and healthy)
"The point is to cause each of us to think deeply about whether there is any essential difference between the reality of [World War II] Nazi experiments and 'therapeutic cloning.'"
In this two-part viewpoint, David A. Prentice and William Saunders discuss the science and the ethics of therapeutic cloning. In the first part, Prentice argues that creating clones for the purpose of embryonic stem cell research, called "therapeutic cloning," is no different from reproductive cloning, which creates a living human child. Also, he points out, therapeutic cloning is not therapeutic for the embryo. In the second part of the viewpoint, Saunders builds on Prentice's argument and goes even …show more content…
What was the point of the Nuremberg Code, according to Saunders?
3. Why does Saunders say that therapeutic cloning violates the Nuremberg Code?
Part I
Cloning always starts with an embryo. The most common technique proposed for human cloning is called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). This cloning is accomplished by transferring the nucleus from a human somatic (body) cell into an egg cell which has had its chromosomes removed or inactivated. SCNT produces a human embryo who is virtually genetically identical to an existing or previously existing human being.
Proponents of human cloning hold out two hopes for its use: (1) the creation of children for infertile couples (so-called "reproductive cloning"), and (2) the development of medical miracles to cure diseases by harvesting embryonic stem cells from the cloned embryos of patients (euphemistically termed "therapeutic cloning").
All Human Cloning Produces a Human …show more content…
Recall how they used the term "therapeutic" to describe not the helping of suffering people, but the killing of them. Recall that the Nazis eliminated those "unworthy of life" in order to improve the genetic stock of Germany. Recall how the Nazis undertook lethal experiments on concentration camp inmates in order, in some cases, to find ways to preserve the lives of others.
The point is not to suggest that those who support "therapeutic cloning" are, in any sense, Nazis. Rather, the point is to cause each of us to think deeply about whether there is any essential difference between the reality of those Nazi experiments and "therapeutic cloning." As we have shown, each case involves a living human being, and that human being is killed in the aim of a perceived "higher" good.
Cloning proponents try to distinguish between the two cases by saying that the cloned human being has no "potential." But in each case, it is the actions of other human beings that rob the first of "potential" (in the first case, the actions of Nazi executioners; in the second, the laboratory technicians). In either case, the human subject is full of potential simply by being a living human being. Of course, almost miraculously, many of the inmates of the camps did survive when the allies rescued them. Equally miraculously, frozen embryos have been implanted in a woman's womb and brought to live (and healthy)