Impact of Therapeutic Cloning on the Evolutionary Process
Therapeutic cloning has not been used directly on humans to date, therefore it has not yet intervened in the process of evolution. It does, however, have the potential for use in treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and diabetes mellitus. Therapeutic cloning has assisted in the production of animal models with conditions similar to those effecting humans. This enables research to be conducted on possible treatments for these conditions. Therapeutic cloning can also be used to generate body organs or tissues for the use in transplants. Therapeutic cloning has the potential to intervene the evolutionary process of humans by allowing individuals that would not naturally survive to live. It does this by directly inhibiting the action of natural selection against individuals with disadvantageous phenotypes.
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Although therapeutic cloning has only been trialed on animals, there is much potential for its use in treating humans.
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The process of somatic cell nuclear transfer has been used to create stem cells which have specialised into endocrine cells which can produce pancreatic hormones such as glucagon and insulin.(Parson 2006) It is hoped that one day, cells such as these can be inserted into an individual to treat diabetes mellitus. The process of somatic cell nuclear transfer can also be used to produce new nerve cells. This can be used to treat individuals suffering from dementia, Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease. The technology has been used to produce mouse neurons which have then been used to treat Parkinson's disease in mice.(Parson 2006) This gives it the potential to produce human neurons which can then be used to treat Parkinson's disease which is caused by the degeneration of neurons.(GE 2001) If therapeutic cloning is able to treat individuals with such conditions, they will have an increased chance of survival. These individuals who would have naturally struggled to survive without the technology, would now have an increased chance survival.
The technique of therapeutic cloning may also intervene the evolutionary process of humans by being used as a regenerative technique used to grow cells, tissue or organs which can then be used for transplants. This would again allow the individuals to continue to live and will also improve the quality of life of the individuals.
If a genetically determined disorder can be treated with therapeutic cloning, it would allow effected individuals who would naturally struggle, to survive and reproduce. If these individuals reproduce, the allele which they possess which causes the condition would be passed on to their children. Natural selection will not be able to act against individuals with the condition and the frequency of the allele causing the condition will not be lowered. As a result, the condition will remain in members of a population when its occurrence should naturally decrease.