Do we believe it can be done? Should it be done?

According to UNESCO, who have been meeting every year on the issue of cloning scientists now have a number of cloning techniques at their disposal. Since 1997, techniques have improved for the cloning of larger mammals. Over the course of the last few months, I have been exploring the ethics of human cloning, the scientists who are involved . The evidence I have found makes me believe that it is possible, albeit harmful to individuals (mothers in particular) to clone humans for reproductive purposes. 

So now the question is, should it be done?

I found the following article about researchers in Japan, being able to grow viable sperm in a test tube dish.  I had heard that there was some significant finding about when I was oversease, but hadn't explored it thoroughly (I was too busy visiting Dolly the sheep! So to find the information I had to type JAPAN, MICE, SPERM into my favourite search engine and hold my breath for what was to come.  Then up popped the result from the Daily Mail. Phew!

Source: Getty Images

Whilst some scientists are attempting to clone for by implantation of embryos for reproductive purposes, the use of induced pluripotent cells (those obtained without the creation of an embryo) to produce gametes negates any reasonable argument to clone an embryo and implant it. On these grounds, because of risks to the parent, there is no real reason to clone a human being. Why not clone the gametes and use them to produce a genetically unique embryo to then use in an IVF process?

Of course these techniques are at this stage, only successful in mice. So it could be argued that for those who cannot wait, then the trial of implantation of cloned embryos may be the only option. But in time, I think that the idea that reproductive cloning will be a cure for infertility will be an outdated one. As we have seen over the course of my blogs though is that all we need is one mad scientist, with skill to take things to the next level, and at this stage, as I have said many times before, international law is not robust enough to deal the scientist who wants to create the first human clone, and that may not be too far away. So next up I will review the latest UNESCO proceedings and provide a few suggestions of my own for how to address the issue.