Cloning for therapeutic purposes: ethical and policy considerations

This essay reviews how cloning techniques may be used for therapeutic purposes, analyzes ethical implications, and makes recommendations for public policy discourse. Although cloning may bring many potential benefits, they remain uncertain. Furthermore, human embryo research is morally problematic. Therefore, alternatives to human cloning for therapeutic aims should be sought at present. In addition to central ethical issues, public discourse should maintain an emphasis on the value of the human embryo over scientific expediency, the relativity of health, and the principle of justice. Society should support the laudable mission of medical research, while also attending to the moral concerns often threatened by the promises of scientific progress.