Cloning
Reading an article in Scientific America it said

"We intended to isolate human stem cells from the blastocysts to serve as the starter stock for growing replacement nerve, muscle and other tissues that might one day be used to treat patients with a variety of diseases."

Question to Debate: Do you think its right to clon human stem cells in order to help people?

Of course it is. There are people out there who are dying or suffering. If they can be helped, why not? I'm 100% behind cloning.

But did you also Know that there doing a studdie on how to clone/grow human organs. But I'm with you on that a 100% also

Locke1

If you're asking if cloning is ethical, I'm not sure if this topic belongs isn't more suited to the Principles and Personal philosophy forum.

Currently I understand cloning has a few problems. Clones of animals are often born riddled with medical problems. At least that's what the scientists were saying when we cloned Dolly. But if those problems were removed, I would fully support cloning animals.

Does anyone know how cloning organs works? If I remember correctly, one way is that scientists create humans born without (or with very small) brains for the purpose. That seems a little creepy.

Corvus, you are correct in the fact that Dolly had major health issues from the cloning process. Some believe that this was because the environment they used was to different from the womb of an actual lamb, causing certain problems to arise. It would be hazardous to implant defective replacement parts onto humans from the cloning process. I do not believe that the proceedure will be to clone the stem cells, but more of harvest them from cloned individuals. The current method is much of what Corvus said: Cloned babies will be made to have (or not have) smaller, basically functional brains so that the moral issues behind a person's rights will be negated; because they are not really 'people' in a sense. I find this somewhat disturbing to say the least, but the future of cloning basically has no limits. I am torn between wether to support it, or stop it before it starts.

Oh, I just remembered another method. Genetically engineering animals to be compatible organ donors, which would be far more comfortable.

These stem cells can be harvested from the umbilical cords of healthy newborn babies, and they have been used successfully in some cases. Is it really necessary therefore to clone?

For patients needing organs immediatly, yes, it is nessecary for cloning. The clones could be kept in suspended animation so that if an emergency transplant was needed, they would ready in a matter of hours. I don't know about the animal part thing...not many animals have the same organ dimensions we do and anyway, haven't you ever seen the movie 'The Animal'? Just kidding. Anyway, most organs of animals probably wouldn't be compatible as far as size and function. However, some animal donations could prove to be better in some cases, using baby horse lungs would give greater lung capacity with approximatly the same size. Hmm, it could work....

I am supportive of cloning. Within boundries. The harvesting of embryos to me is a little too borderline. Stem cells research has some very interesting avenues.
I am curious to find out if you could clone something like chicken breast. Take some and just grow it in a huge vat. Would solve some hunger problems don't you think. Maybe being able to also gengineer protein would allow it to be fortified with the necessary aminos that athletic humans need. Be great to stop paying a fortune for my supplements. Also be a great thing for vegetarians. I smell a business oportunity here.

Funny you should use the word 'gengineer.' There are few people who know of that word, and even fewer who use it. In answer to your question/theory: Chicken breast, probably not. Why? It requires many things such as nutrients, oxygen, and other resources. Rice, soy, or other fruits or vegetables, probably. Why? Most of them can be planted and left alone. Chicken is much easier to mass produce, simply begin cloning one an then split the embryo. This will make identical twins. After a while you will have several hundered chickens just from one embryo. I would take the chicken idea, even if it is a little harder to maintain, it shows the most promise.

Fortification of nutrients. Definatly could be done. In the case above, the chicken could be gengineered to produce lots of essential nutrients, basically bcoming a meal in one. The perfect ration, made at low cost. You got something there Chris.

Business, business, business. Once the scientists have this cloning business (hmm, that word again.) down to an art, the corperations like Safeway and King Supers will buy into it and sell it for lots of money, at low cost to them. However, as said before, it could be an end to hunger in third world countries. Definatly one of the finer points of cloning.

You have a very good poin talyn.

Locke1

We already are enhancing protein in dairy animals to produce therapeutic proteins in there milk and there are scientists racing to catalogue the proteins in our bodies and to figure out how they network with one another. These efforts could lead to more and better drugs.
Ender

" I got my information from Scientific America "

I realize that we are learning how to fortify and enhance our food supply. The research in Sweet potatos and rice is very interesting.
However. With all the talk of cloning I am wondering if one could do that with the cells that make up meats. With all the talk of growing spare organs for us to use in surgery it seems only logical that one could grow amounts of far simpler protein structures such as muscle(Meat). One could then obviously modify it and create a more useful foodstuff. Design it for optimal digestion and absorbtion into the human body. Additional vitamin and mineral content, etc.
I am trying to find information that answers my question but the focus of most research currently involves reproducing humans.
I realize this takes this thread a bit off subject BUT, research such as this shows the potential of cloning technology and science. Not to mention the world changing potential in regards to starvation.

the most effective way to do this would have people potentially cloning themselves. this would eliminate any incompatibilities. i have no idea about a small head thing.

the problem with cloning may lie in telomeres. these are little proteins that tell cells when to stop reproducing. in cancer cells, they are turned off. if you clone a cell with old telomeres, there may be problems with it replicating normally and hence growing.