Interview with an expert
Scientists have been cloning for several decennia and are achieving a lot. They have already cloned animals and are working on bigger and better things. We interviewed Dr. N. de Leeuw who works in the Radboud university in Nijmegen. We asked for her opinion on cloning.
Click here to see the full interview.
Q: Are you in favour of therapeutic cloning?
A: Yes, for people with a medical indication, I am in favour. Not if it concerns cosmetic indications.
Q: Why are/aren’t you in favour of therapeutic cloning?
A: I am in favour, because there is a shortage of donor organs, hence using stem cells for therapeutic purposes would benefit numerous sick people, including young children.
Q: How are stem cells generated and have you done/seen it yourself?
A: Stem cells are present in various tissues of the human body, In particular, human placental tissue contains a large number of (so-called hematopoietic) stem cells.
Q: Why are stem cells and therapeutic cloning so important for the future?
A: Stem cells are part of our physiology and needed to regenerate damaged tissue or renew cells that are getting too old in the human body. Stem cells can differentiate into different types of specialized cells. In case an injured or ill person does not have a functional organ any more, one can opt for transplantation, but that requires an available donor AND a good match in order to prevent (often life-threatening) graft-versus-host disease.
Q: Is it harder to clone animal stem cells than it is to clone human stem cells, if so why?
A: I do think it is, because most often, the human body is a more complex organism than, for example, a mouse.
Q: Is therapeutic cloning funded at your facility? Why is/isn’t it funded?
A: Colleagues of mine at our department of human genetics are using “human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)” for their research, but as far as I know, we are not involved in (funding of) therapeutic cloning. In our hospital (Radboudumc) stem cells are used for treatment, for example, see Radboud UMC.
Q: How does therapeutic cloning differ from reproductive cloning?
A: In therapeutic cloning, stem cells are used to generate a functional organ or tissue. In reproductive cloning, stem cells are used to generate an entire and complete organism.
Q: Are you in favour of reproductive cloning?
A: No, I am not.
Q: Why are/aren’t you in favour of reproductive cloning?
A: Because I do not see the need to have reproductive cloning. Moreover, reproduction is a complex interplay, a lot more than just a fusion of a sperm and an egg. Thinks like parental imprint erasure are still incompletely understood and ignored / left out in reproductive cloning which will certainly cause problems sooner or later.
Q: Do you think there is a future for cloning?
A: I do think there is a future for cloning, but I do hope it will be restricted to therapeutic cloning. Would you like to have a clone of yourself?