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History has brought us many incurable diseases and disorders, whose causes have remained unknown to man. The mystery has tempted man to explore the possibilities and find treatments. Cloning has enabled scientists and geneticists to experiment with these possibilities to many genetic disorders, and its advantages are many. Experience gained in cloning may add to our understanding of genetics and lead to the creation of animals organs which have been genetically altered sot that they can be transplanted to humans. This would supply limitless number of organs so that people would not die while on the waiting list for the few available human organs.Moreover, cloning could produce a reservoir of "spare parts". Fertilized ovums could be cloned into multiple zygotes; one could be implanted in the woman and allow to develop into a normal baby; the other zygotes could be frozen for future use. In conventional in vitro fertilization, doctors attempt to start with many ovums, fertilize each with sperm and implant all of them in the woman's womb in the hope that one will result in pregnancy. A woman could prefer to have one set of identical twins rather than go through two separate pregnancies. She might prefer this in order to minimize disruption to her career. Another scenario is with a heterosexual couple where the husband is completely sterile could use adult DNA cloning to have a child. An ovum form the woman would be coupled with a cell from the man's body. Both would contribute to the child: the woman would be the "factory" for creating cells; the man would provide the genetic information. And if perhaps the couple wanted to have certain talents that were genetically influenced, i.e.. musical talent. Cloning using the DNA from the cell of an adult with the desired traits or talents might produce an infant with similar potential. Conversely, parents who are known to be at risk of passing a genetic defect to a child could make use of cloning. A fertilized ovum could be cloned, and the duplicate would be tested for the disease or disorder. If the clone was free of genetic defects, then the other clone would be as well. The other would be implanted in the woman and allowed to mature to term.
Cloning might produce greater understanding of the causes of miscarriages; this might lead to a treatment to prevent spontaneous abortions. This would aid women who are unable to bring a fetus to term. Furthermore, it might lead to an understanding of the mechanisms by which a morula (a mass of cells that has developed from a blastula) attaches itself to the wall of the uterus. The rapid growth of the human morula is similar to the rate at which cancer cells propagate. Cancer researchers believe that if a method is found to stop the division of a human ovum then a technique for terminating the growth of a cancer might be found. This might generate new, effective contraceptives that exhibit very few side effects.
Furthermore, treatment for damage ot the brain or nervous system might be possible due to cloning. Damaged nerve tissue in adults does not regenerate on its own. Although stem cells might be capable of repairing the tissue, a large number of stem cells is required to execute reparations, an ideal scenario where human embryo cloning could be used.
It seems that there are many advantages to cloning. By unlocking the mystery about the origins of many genetic disorders, cloning could heal the population at large to some extent. In its initial stages, cloning was tried on plants, if ever the need arose, i.e. famine, it could be used to produce large quantities of food for poorer countries. Although, cloning is very useful, it is essential that this knowledge not be misused, the consequences would be devastating. For a closer look at some of the consequences, see Ethical Issues.