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Cloning

^1. Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life, International Centre for Life, Times Square, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4EP, UK Email: a.p.murdoch{at}ncl.ac.uk

Key content:

• Reproductive cloning is prohibited in the United Kingdom and there is legislation banning it in some other countries.
  
• The therapeutic potential of being able to grow unlimited supplies of functioning, differentiated cells of different types is immense.
  
• One possible application in gynaecology might be to use cell-based therapies to replace the endometrium and to treat myometrial scars and bladder wall or vaginal deficiencies.
  
• A licence to undertake somatic cell nuclear transfer for the derivation of stem cells was granted in the UK in 2004 and the first blastocyst described in 2005.
  
• One potential way of obtaining oocytes might be to ask women undergoing in vitro fertilisation to donate some of theirs.
  

Learning objectives:

• To learn about the moral and ethical issues surrounding human cloning.
  
• To be aware of the potential use of cloning in gynaecology.
  
• To be informed about the current research.
  

Ethical issues:

• How can oocytes be obtained without risk to the donor?
  
• Is it ethical to pay women to donate oocytes?
  

Please cite this article as: Murdoch A. Cloning. The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist 2007;9:177–180.

Keywords embryonic stem cells / Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority / in vitro fertilisation / somatic cell nuclear transfer / therapeutic cloning