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... bryology of 1990 in Great Britain maintains policies and also establishes a group to oversee human cloning activities. The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority is involved in deciding where to draw ethical boundaries and is empowered to forbid human reproductive cloning in the United Kingdom (Appendix A. 17). They also ensure that the current existing law is adequate. The creation of an organization modeled after the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority in Britain is what is being proposed for the state of California. Advantages &# 61623; Unethical research studies would not be permitted to take place. &# 61623; Any loopholes in current policies can be addressed by the agency. &# 61623; Continuous review and updating of the current policy will allow for any adjustments and changes that are necessary to keep up with the changing time and views of the public. &# 61623; This agency can enforce current legislation and oversee proper punishment for non-compliant organizations and institutions. &# 61623; Punishments and fines can be adjusted to match the crime. &# 61623; Problems can be addressed in a more timely manner than if the state legislators or governor had to intervene.
Disadvantages &# 61623; Creation of this type of entity will cost a lot of money, and there will also be costs incurred to maintain the committee. &# 61623; Who would the committee be held accountable to? Would this entity be an extension of the legislative branch of the state government? Would it be a committee under the governor? &# 61623; There may be difficulty in generating a committee that is objective rather than subjective when it comes to deciding policy or punishment matters. The combination of individuals who would promote this objectivity may be hard to find.
Researchers are going to be biased in favor of research, thus, they may try to implement policies that give scientists more freedom. On the other hand, having people with conservative views about human cloning issues may inhibit scientists through the implementation of severe punishments and imposing restrictions. &# 61623; The FDA may have problems with this option because it has decided to regulate human cloning and assert its authority regarding this topic (Appendix A. 18). They are requiring that a formal application must be filed with them first for permission to attempt human cloning legally. This application is to undergo a very lengthy review before it is given approval or rejected. If the FDA does not allow for the newly created committee to have the authority to review experimentation proposals from within the state, then this proposal is unnecessary and implausible. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS Human Cloning - for the purpose of producing a child When Dr.
Richard Seed announced to the world his plans to open the first human cloning clinic in the United States, for the purpose of offering the procedure to infertile couples, President Clinton declared his desire to ban cloning. One of his reasons for doing so was because of the unknown effects cloning can have on the clone. What are the long term effects of cloning an individual? Nuclear transfer bypasses the mechanisms that usually correct errors in DNA of germ cells, but since this will not be present in clones, incidence of cancer may be increased (Appendix A. 9). Will cloning cause premature aging? Scientists are concerned that the DNA in a cloned animal may have a shortened life span.
A cloned animal may behave like an animal that has the "combined age of the donor and offspring" (Appendix A. 20). The fact that it took two hundred and seventy-seven embryos to result in the successful birth of the sheep clone Dolly is enough to make people wary about cloning (Appendix A. 10). The probability that a cloned human embryo may be stillborn or die soon after birth is very high, and until better methods for cloning are developed, the challenge of activating the 100, 000 genes in the somatic cell nucleus and having them "perform perfectly" for the gestation period of the clone will remain (Appendix A. 9). Dr.
Seed is hoping to produce the first human clone some time this year. Although he is a physicist, he has some experience in reproductive genetics. Because he is not qualified to completely carry out the human cloning process, the individuals who will actually be involved in the medical aspect of the procedure are physicians and trained medical personnel (Appendix A. 20). The physicians will be the ones to establish a relationship with the people who come into the clinic to seek advice and intervention in overcoming problems of infertility since they will be the ones to actually perform the cloning procedure and implantation. Once this relationship is established, physicians are obligated to provide their patients with continuous medical attention. The doctrine of informed consent is very important and applicable to human cloning, especially in its early stages of testing.
A patient must be informed of the nature of the treatment, the risks, complications and benefits of the treatments and any alternative treatments and their risks and benefits. The physician must also disclose any other information requested by the patient (Appendix A. 21). For physicians working at the cloning clinic, this means that they must inform patients of the risk of having a child with deformities and disorders currently undetectable through testing such as premature aging. This type of information may help couples to put more thought into going through with the procedure that rather than basing their decisions on the emotional desire to have a child. However, because the result of this process has not yet been studied, it will be difficult to determine if and when there was a breach of duty by the physician in his or her failure to render proper care in the notification of risks. It is unclear as to what type of relationship a physician working at the human cloning clinic will have with the institution.
The clinic will probably advertise heavily about its technology and the ability to provide infertile couples with the opportunity to have a child of their own. Unless they decide to promote the birth of a "healthy" baby and try to market the expertise of the physicians and staff on hand, vicarious liability should not be much of a problem. It was found by the Court of Appeals of Indiana in the case Sword v. NKC Hospitals, Inc. that third parties, such as the human cloning clinic can be liable for the negligent acts of their apparent agents, regardless of whether or not they are employees or independent contractors (Appendix A. 22). As long as the clinic conveyed the notion that the physicians were their employees to their clients or patients, it may be held responsible for the negligent acts of the physicians.
Also, by advertising the birth of "healthy" babies, couples can held the clinic liable for the birth of an abnormal or deformed clone. What are the rights of a clone? He or she did not ask to be born; the decision to create this individual was made by the "parents." If, in fact, this clone was born with defects, would he or she be able to hold the "parents" liable for his abnormalities along with the clinic? The issue of cloning has created many problems for which there are few answers. The legal authority which currently exists is inadequate for dealing with human cloning (Appendix A. 23). Human Cloning - for research purposes Cloning to produce human embryos for research is also another topic where current laws are proving to be insufficient.
Because the purpose of research on human embryos is to generate cells, tissue and to study them for therapeutic applications, people have been more favorable to this than to the idea of cloning a human being for reproductive practices. There has been concern over the right of these embryos by anti-abortion groups, but because they have always voiced their opinions on issues such as fetal tissue research, people are not surprised by the reactions of these people to human embryo cloning. In Moore v. Regents of the University of California, the California appellate court ruled that "a patient must have the ultimate power to control what becomes of his or her tissues" and that "to hold otherwise would open the door to a massive invasion of human dignity in the name of medical progress" (Appendix A. 24). Moore had bodily substances removed from his body by his physician and unbeknownst to him, this physician, along with researchers were making a lot of money off of his hairy cell leukemia samples.
In the case of human embryo cloning for research, there must be individuals willing to donate their DNA or eggs in order to produce the needed embryos. According to Moore v. Regents of California, consent of a patient is required. What happens to the eggs and DNA when there is no way to locate the donor for consent? If the donor somehow finds out that his or her DNA or eggs have been used to generate embryos for research purposes without their consent, the donator can sue for proceeding with medical procedures without having obtained their informed consent. RECOMMENDATIONS This analysis recommends that the legislators of the state of California and the governor endorse a policy that continues to ban human cloning for reproductive purposes, yet allow for this procedure to be used for research (Alternative 2).
It has been recommended by government groups such as the National Bioethics Advisory Committee that legislation should not be written in such a way that it interferes with current and ongoing research. The current policy prohibits human cloning in general. Revisions need to be made so that human cloning techniques are only forbidden mainly for reproductive purposes. New clauses can be incorporated and added into the existing legislation, and these clauses can include specific restrictions to regulate the type of procedures that are acceptable. This type of specification will help to minimize any loopholes in the policy, thereby providing a more effective way to address the concerns of the scientist, legislators and the general public. Alternative 1 is the most economically viable, but it is not an attractive option because it has already been shown to be ineffective.
The policy has many loopholes due to problems with drafting. Scientists have devised many ways to carry out unethical research practices by working around the law. Thus, regulations and restrictions must be addressed more appropriately and thoroughly before this law becomes more suitable for the state of California. Alternative 3 has many attractive advantages. However, because of federal regulations as well as costs, it is not very feasible. The FDA is currently responsible for authorizing human cloning experiments.
Establishing an organization to carry out the responsibilities that overlap with the current jurisdiction of the FDA may create problems. IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY For the purposes of implementing Alternative 2, the following scenario can be considered. Present Continue to prohibit human cloning. May 1999 to Review current legislation and develop a draft of a new policy July 1999 or clause to add to the existing law that permits human cloning for research. Develop any guidelines that restrict or permit procedures to try to minimize ways for scientists to work around the policy. August 1999 Release a copy of the policy generated to mainstream press and to research institutions to generate support.
September 1999 to Present bill to California state Senate for amendments and approval. December 1999 January 2000 to Present bill to state Assembly for amendments and approval. April 2000 May 2000 to Present bill to Governor for approval and signature. July 2000 July 2000 File bill with Secretary of State of California. ACTION: Approve, implement as is Revise based on comments and implement Revise based on comments and resubmit See me Disapprove COMMENTS: APPENDIX A. Information Sources 1) Shapiro, Harold T. "Ethical and Policy Issues of Human Cloning. " Science. 1997; 277: 195 - 196. 2) web 3) web 4) River, Julie. "US Congressional Battles Threaten Clear Legal Position on Cloning. " The Lancet. 1998; 351: 506. 5) Eisenberg, Leon. "Would Cloned Humans Really Be Like Sheep?" The New England Journal of Medicine. 1999; 340: 471 - 475. 6) Robertson, John A. "Human Cloning and the Challenge of Regulation. " The New England Journal of Medicine. 1998; 339: 119 - 122. 7) Annas, George J. "Why We Should Ban Human Cloning. " The New England Journal of Medicine. 1998; 339: 118 - 125. 8) "First Principles in Cloning. " Editorial.
The Lancet. 1997; 353: 81. 9) Watts, Jonathan and Morris, Kelly. "Human Cloning Trial Met with Outrage and Skepticism. " The Lancet. 1999; 353: 43. 10) Marwick, Charles. "Put Human Cloning on Hold, Say Bioethicists. " JAMA. 1997; 278: 13 - 14. 11) web 12) Wise, Jacqui. "Bills on Human Cloning Are Full of Loopholes. " British Medical Journal. 1998; 316: 573. 13) web 14) web 15) Mayor, Susan. "UK Authorities Recommend Human Cloning for Therapeutic Research. " British Medical Journal. 1998; 317: 1613. 16) Furrow, Barry, et al. Health Law: Cases, Materials and Problems. St. Paul: West Group, 1997, p. 894. 17) Bower, Hilary. "Public Consultation on Human Cloning Launched. " British Medical Journal. 1998; 316: 411. 18) web 012098.
html 19) Benatar, D. "Cloning and Ethics. " QJM. 1998; 91: 165 - 166. 20) Josef son, Deborah. "US Scientist Plans Human Cloning Clinic. " British Medical Journal. 1998; 316: 167. 21) Furrow, Barry, et al. Health Law: Cases, Materials and Problems. St. Paul: West Group, 1997, p. 415. 22) Furrow, Barry, et al.
Health Law: Cases, Materials and Problems. St. Paul: West Group, 1997, p. 248. 23) web 24) Furrow, Barry, et al. Health Law: Cases, Materials and Problems. St.
Paul: West Group, 1997, p. 435. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Human Embryo Cloning British Medical Journal
