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... not banned (HCF 1). By combining genetic engineering with cloning, the breakthroughs could allow scientist some insight on how to perfect the treatment of fatal diseases. Ailing convalescents will be free of rejection by their own immune systems (HCF 1).
In a rare degenerative disorder, syringomyelia, a syrinx, or fluid filled cavity forms a scar near or on the spinal cord. Left untreated, the cavities cause unbearable pain as well as a gradual loss of sensory and motor skills. The traditional remedy involves an operation in which the spinal depressions are drained via an interposed tube. Doctors Richard Fessler, Paul Review and Douglas Anderson of the University of Florida say that these tubes often become blocked and the patient requires more and more operations. The new techniques offer a far more favorable outcome. During the experimental surgery, doctors first drain the syrinx and inject it with spinal cord cells taken from human embryos. (Zacks 2).
The idea is to keep the passageways clear and prohibit them from refilling. Ian Wilmut, creator of the famous cloned sheep, Dolly, and his colleagues are working on better ways to treat cystic fibrosis, another life-threatening genetic disease (HCF 3). With cystic fibrosis, bodily secretions are unusually thick and gummy and clog the lungs, digestive tract and sweat glands. This causes a horde of problems for the patient. Babies diagnosed with cystic fibrosis are prone to lung infections, have difficulty breathing and eating. Numerous medications merely alleviate some symptoms, but most patients still do not live past the age of 30.
The final and perhaps most important reason to clone is for cancer, which is second to cardiovascular diseases in the leading causes of adult deaths in the United States. When cancer multiplies, it cannot be stopped without the use of strong medications. One of the most popular treatments for cancer is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy works well in killing cancer cells, but it also kills the healthy cells. During treatment, I was in and out of the hospital, I reacted so poorly to chemotherapy. Sometimes I could not even keep water down.
I lost almost of my body weight and had terrible sores on my mouth and skin. Recalls one cancer patient while on chemotherapy. Some believe it does more harm that good and some patients quit after only one or two chemotherapy sessions because the drugs make them violently ill. Traditional treatments including chemotherapy can guarantee remission rates up to 90 percent, but this newest technology, angiogenesis, an outcome of cloning, can guarantee a remission rate 99 percent for localized (stage 1) cancers (Koczab 2). Even Dr. Folkman himself says, Ive been waiting for results like these my whole life.
Cancer is the result of disordered and disorganized cell growth and is classified to the cell from which it originated. In the past, cancer was an automatic death sentence because medical professionals did not understand how to kill the cancer without killing the patient. Scientists still do not know exactly how cancer cells are formed and how they lose their differentiation. Cloning may at last be the key to understanding differentiation and cancer (HCF 3). One of the newest treatments for cancer is called angiogenesis.
Dr. Moses Judah Folkman recently discovered Angiogenesis and it seems like a promising cure for localized cancers and tumors. Angiostatin and endo statin are injections that stifle blood vessel growth when injected into human cancers cloned in mice (Begley and Kalb 2). In other words, these injections cause cancers to shrink without harming the cancer-laden person with virtually no side effects. Folkman surmised that to grow, tumors needed blood and send out an unknown substance that coaxes nearby blood vessels into sprouting new capillaries. Angiogenesis prohibits blood vessels from sprouting and the tumor is choked off.
This new treatment has proven effective in human cancers grafted and cloned in both mice and rabbits with no apparent side effects. Once bed-ridden cancer patients may be able to relish in a semi-ordinary lifestyle while undergoing angiogenesis injections as treatment. Another popular treatment for blood-specific cancers such as leukemias, myelomas and lymphomas is bone marrow or stem cell transplants. Transplanting these fluids from person to person can be just as risky as organ transplantation and the body can reject the solutions. Perchance if some of the healthy bone marrow or stem cells could be withdrawn from the patient himself, cloned in a controlled laboratory and given back to the patient intravenously rejection could be completely avoided. With the mastery of cloning technology, essentially anything is possible.
Scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington have mapped the section of a gene identified with the hereditary form of prostate cancer. Locating these genes is one of the most important steps in treating cancers, especially the kinds that run in families, declares Dr. Elaine Ostrander, head of the genetics program at the Hutchinson center (1). As one can see, cloning could mean hope for measureless amounts of problems and diseases that exist. The fears of rejecting a transplanted organ or substance such as bone marrow and stem cells could be eliminated in the minds of transplant candidates and cancer patients. Paralyzed victims could regain use of their ineffective limbs and gain better motor and sensory skills.
Infertile couples could effortlessly have a healthy child of their own. Cataclysmic genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, which takes its victims young, could be cured and possibly even prevented. Even cancer could be cured if scientists work at understanding the process by which cancer cells lose their differentiation. The benefits of cloning outweigh the few religious beliefs that are holding back research that could benefit a large number of people. Some ethicist's argue that if the persistence of cloning research continues, soon whole human being clones will all be running around with no sense of identity.
This is ridiculous. Of course, laws would be passed against this process and cloning would be strictly limited to treating medical conditions and helping couples have babies. Cloning an identical human being just to harvest their organs or bone marrow is not exactly ethical. Cloning human beings would serve no audible purpose anyhow. In contrast, however, if a sterile second-generation Holocaust survivor wanted a male heir to continue an otherwise doomed family line, the rabbi says he might advise the man to clone rather than use donor sperm. (Woodward 60). Ethical issues play a role in almost any venture people become associated with.
Controversial topics such as gun control, abortion, assisted suicide and cloning all have their advantages and disadvantages. Humans have devoted much thought to the idea of playing God. (Masci 418). The real crux here is how far do scientists go. Beals, G. , Reibstein, L. Newsweek (cover story) 10 Mar 1997: 58. Begley, S & Kalb, C.
One Mans Quest to Cure Cancer. Newsweek. 18 May 1998. Cohen, P. Dolly Helps the Infertile. World Wide Web. AOL 19 May 1999 [ web Human Cloning.
World Wide Web. AOL. 24 Apr 1999. [ web Masci, David. The Cloning Controversy. The CQ Researcher. 9 May 1997: 409 - 431.
Mikos, Antonio's G. & Mooney, David J. Growing New Organs. World Wide Web. AOL. 17 May 1999. [ web New scientist. World Wide Web.
AOL 25 Apr 1999. [ web Ostrander, E. Seattle Researchers Zero In On Location of Gene for Inherited Prostate Cancer World Wide Web. AOL. 23 May 1999. Spinal Cord Repair. World Wide Web. AOL. 19 May 1999. [ web Woodward, Kenneth L.
Today the Sheep Newsweek 10 Mar 1997: 60. Bibliography:
Free research essays on topics related to: cancer cells, cystic fibrosis, bone marrow, spinal cord, stem cells
Research essay sample on Cystic Fibrosis Bone Marrow
