• Question: Will cloning become a standard medical procedure?

    Asked by to David, Johanna, Linda, Tamas, Tom on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: David Davila

      David Davila answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Oh goodness I hope not.

      That is a horrifying thought, why would we need to clone anyone??

    • Photo: Linda Cremonesi

      Linda Cremonesi answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      I think therapeutic cloning is already being performed. But it’s very different from you’re thinking probably. You don’t clone a whole human being (that would be extremely unethical!!! And also impossible with the current technology), but doctors use stem cells to reproduce part of a damaged organ.

      There are lots of debates about the use of stem cells at the moment and we haven’t really discovered their full potential yet.

    • Photo: Thomas Smith

      Thomas Smith answered on 27 Jun 2014:

      Linda’s correct. We’re already cloning cells and animals such as sheep and pigs. One of the most exciting areas of research is in the use of cloned pigs for providing humans with organ transplants. I think it’s very likely that people with liver failure, kidney failure, or even heart disease might soon have their organs replaced with livers, kidneys, or hearts from cloned pigs!

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