ETHICAL ISSUES OF CLONING AND STEM CELL RESEARCH

Human embryonic stem (hES) cells have the unrivaled ability to differentiate into any specialized cell type. Significant attention is currently directed to the biological and therapeutic capabilities of these cells for developing novel treatments for acute and chronic diseases including heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal injuries and cancer. However, these technologies have posed profound ethical issues. Ethical challenges are largely based on concerns for safety, efficacy, resource allocation, and methods of harvesting stem cells. Fundamental points in the issues are the human dignity and human rights, the concept of the moral status of human embryos, concerns about commercialization of stem cells and oocyte donors, and slippery slopes towards reproductive cloning. The use of hES cells for research is currently high on the ethical and political agenda in many countries and international organizations such as UN, UNESCO, and WHO. Many countries allow strictly regulated research on human embryos. The purpose of this paper is to describe the scientific background to the current ethical and legislative debates about the generation and use of human stem cells, and to give an overview of the ethical issues underlying these debates. The successes and limitations of mammalian reproductive cloning are itemized. For compilation the article, we searched particulary in Pubmed and Ovid for keywords of " cloning", "stem cell research", "ethics", etc. Considered articles which were published during recent ten years.Results and This review hopes to bring the reader closer to the science and the ethics of this new technology, and what the implications are for the medical practitioner. This review also discusses the legal status of ES cell research in the world with special attention paid to the Islamic perspectives.