Potential benefits of cell cloning for human medicine

The successful cloning of a mammal from an adult somatic cell nucleus opens new avenues for major advances in reproductive medicine, biotechnology and cellular-based transplantation therapies for degenerative diseases. At the same time, this breakthrough has generated much heated discussion concerning the ethics of cloning. Twinning is a form of cloning, and there are instances in clinical assisted reproduction in which the deliberate formation of twins by embryo dissection would seem ethically acceptable. Nuclear transfer technology might facilitate the derivation of human embryonic stem cells, capable of differentiation into a wide variety of somatic cell lineages. Directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into specific cell types in vitro could provide a universal source of cells for transplantation therapy. The potential benefits of therapeutics based on cloning technologies are considerable, and hasty legislation to ban all such procedures could block progress in critical arenas of biomedical research.