Human reproductive cloning is an assisted reproductive technology that would be carried out with the goal of creating a newborn genetically identical to another human being. It is currently the subject of much debate around the world, involving a variety of ethical, religious, societal, scientific, and medical issues. Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning considers the scientific and medical sides of this issue, plus ethical issues that pertain to human-subjects research. Based on experience with reproductive cloning in animals, the report concludes that human reproductive cloning would be dangerous for the woman, fetus, and newborn, and is likely to fail. The study panel did not address the issue of whether human reproductive cloning, even if it were found to be medically safe, would beâ€"or would not beâ€"acceptable to individuals or society.
The most important technology of the 21st century. Do a double-take with this one-of-a-kind guide. One of technology's most awe-inspiring and hotly-debated topics-cloning-is made clearer here than anywhere else. It runs the gamut from genetic- and bioengineering, to an even handed analysis of the moral, political, and ethical issues surrounding these technologies. € Claims of cloned babies, the Human Genome Project, and cryogenics continue to create headlines and spur debate € Congress will soon decide whether the federal government should have a say about cloning human cells for medical research
Principles of Cloning, Second Edition is the fully revised edition of the authoritative book on the science of cloning. The book presents the basic biological mechanisms of how cloning works and progresses to discuss current and potential applications in basic biology, agriculture, biotechnology, and medicine. Beginning with the history and theory behind cloning, the book goes on to examine methods of micromanipulation, nuclear transfer, genetic modification, and pregnancy and neonatal care of cloned animals. The cloning of various species—including mice, sheep, cattle, and non-mammals—is considered as well. The Editors have been involved in a number of breakthroughs using cloning technique, including the first demonstration that cloning works in differentiated cells done by the Recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine – Dr John Gurdon; the cloning of the first mammal from a somatic cell – Drs Keith Campbell and Ian Wilmut; the demonstration that cloning can reset the biological clock - Drs Michael West and Robert Lanza; the demonstration that a terminally differentiated cell can give rise to a whole new individual – Dr Rudolf Jaenisch and the cloning of the first transgenic bovine from a differentiated cell – Dr Jose Cibelli. The majority of the contributing authors are the principal investigators on each of the animal species cloned to date and are expertly qualified to present the state-of-the-art information in their respective areas. - First and most comprehensive book on animal cloning, 100% revised - Describes an in-depth analysis of current limitations of the technology and research areas to explore - Offers cloning applications on basic biology, agriculture, biotechnology, and medicine
Animal cloning has developed quickly since the birth of Dolly the sheep. Yet many of the first questions to be raised still need to be answered. What do Dolly and her fellow mouse, cow, pig, goat and monkey clones mean for science? And for society? Why do so many people respond so fearfully to cloning? What are the ethical issues raised by cloning animals, and in the future, humans? How are the makers of public policy coping with the stunning fact that an entire animal can be reconstructed from a single adult cell? And that humans might well be next? The Cloning Source Book addresses all of these questions in a way that is unique in the cloning literature, by grounding what is effectively an interdisciplinary conversation in solid science. In the first section of the book, the key scientists responsible for the early and crucial developments in cloning speak to us directly, and other scientists evaluate and comment on these developments. The second section explores the context of cloning and includes sociological, mythological, and historical perspectives on science, ethics, and policy. The authors also examine the media's treatment of the Dolly story and its aftermath, both in the United States and in Britain. The third section, on ethics, contains a broad range of papers written by some of the major commentators in the field. The fourth section addresses legal and policy issues. It features individual and collective contributions by those who have actually shaped public policy on reproductive cloning, therapeutic cloning, and similarly contentious bioethical issues in the United States, Britain, and the European Union. Animal cloning continues for agricultural and medicinal purposes, the latter in combination with transgenics. Human cloning for therapeutic purposes has recently been made legal in Britain. The goal is to produce an early embryo and then derive stem cells that are immunologically matched to the donor. Two human reproductive cloning projects have been announced, and there are almost certainly others about which we know nothing. Sooner or later a cloned human will be born. Many lessons can be learned from the cloning experience. Most importantly, there needs to be a public conversation about the permissible uses of new and morally murky technologies. Scientists, journalists, ethicists and policy makers all have roles to play, but cutting-edge science is everybody's business. The Cloning Sourcebook provides the tools required for us to participate in shaping our own futures.
Drawn from the pages of Scientific American and collected here for the first time, this work contains updated and condensed information, made accessible to a general popular science audience, on the subject of cloning.
Assists policymakers in evaluating the appropriate scientific methods for detecting unintended changes in food and assessing the potential for adverse health effects from genetically modified products. In this book, the committee recommended that greater scrutiny should be given to foods containing new compounds or unusual amounts of naturally occurring substances, regardless of the method used to create them. The book offers a framework to guide federal agencies in selecting the route of safety assessment. It identifies and recommends several pre- and post-market approaches to guide the assessment of unintended compositional changes that could result from genetically modified foods and research avenues to fill the knowledge gaps.
Clear and concise, this easy-to-use text offers an introductory course on the language of gene cloning, covering microbial, plant, and animal systems. The essential concepts in biology relevant to the understanding of gene cloning are presented in a well-organized and accessible manner. This updated version of the first edition is an invaluable book for nonscientists as well as scientists with little background knowledge in gene cloning, providing a wealth of information for anyone wishing to gain proficiency in reading and speaking the language of gene cloning.
Since Dolly the sheep was born, controversy has swirled around the technology of cloning. We recoil at the prospect of human copies, manufactured men and women, nefarious impersonators and resurrections of the dead. Such reactions have serious legal consequences: lawmakers have banned stem cell research along with the cloning of babies. But what if our minds have been playing tricks on us? What if everything we thought we knew about human cloning is rooted in intuition rather than fact? Human Cloning: Four Fallacies and their Legal Consequences is a rollicking ride through science, psychology and the law. Drawing on sources ranging from science fiction films to the Congressional Record, this book unmasks the role that psychological essentialism has played in bringing about cloning bans. It explains how hidden intuitions have caused conservatives and liberals to act contrary to their own most cherished ideals and values.
The phrase 'War on Terror' has quietly been retired from official usage, but it persists in the American psyche, and our understanding of it is hardly complete. Exploring the role of verbal and visual images in the War on Terror, the author finds a conflict whose shaky metaphoric and imaginary conception has created its own reality.
