Stem cells can serve more than one function in the body. A zygote is a perfect example of a stem cell as it is one cell that later develops and gets divided into more cells. In the United States, stem cell research is faced with public controversies and political uncertainties. The main concern arises from embryonic stem cells research. I consider it immoral as it violates all the codes of human experimentation. Instead, this research should be limited to other types of stems cells including induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that seems to have a breakthrough for studying diseases ( Madl et al., 2018) . Humans should not have an automatic patent on their genetic code. For many years the human genome has continuously gained attention as more research persists. Back in time, the expanse of rapid-sequencing technology led to the knowledge of patenting genes. However, doing so requires replication of the genes under study. This is a violation of the patent and more so it should not happen as inventions are not meant to change the laws of nature.
Yes, human cloning and genetic engineering should be pursued to the maximum of our technical knowledge. Sources have it that we humans adapt the environment to our genes more than genes to the environment ( Sugarman, 2015) . Even so, natural selection has caused many diseases linked to our genes. Genetic engineering is perceived to offer a germ-line gene therapy that will hopefully stop the increase of genetic diseases. Consequently, these biotechnologies and cloning could offer people fundamental desires. Ethics are the prime hindrance of these sciences. There are sharp ethical controversies in human cloning and human stem cell research. Different religious unions claim that human life is easily commodified by cloning technologies. Others claim that some people may use the technology would violate the autonomy of a child. Some of the ethical concerns of human stem research are the confidentiality of embryo donor and waiver of consent.
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References
Madl, C. M., Heilshorn, S. C., & Blau, H. M. (2018). Bioengineering strategies to accelerate stem cell therapeutics. Nature , 557 (7705), 335.
Sugarman, J. (2015). Ethics and germline gene editing. EMBO reports , 16 (8), 879-880.