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One of the major ethical concerns over therapeutic human cloning may soon be over. Just a few days ago, independent research teams in Japan and the US announced that they had successfully transmuted ordinary human adult skin cells into pluripotent stem cells - that is, generic or undifferentiated human cells that can be triggered to grow into any type of human tissue - thus opening the door toward therapeutic clone technology such as the cultivation of replacement organs grown from the recipient’s own tissue. Just two years ago I wrote an essay on what I saw as an ethical problem with one extreme implication of clone therapy: immortality. I still see that particular concern as valid. But the more immediate qualm about destroying a human embryo for its stem cells seem no longer to be a live issue, with even the most vocal opponents of stem cell research appearing to be mollified by - even supportive of - these latest developments.
At this stage, the techniques involve retroviruses, something that renders the resulting cells unsuitable for direct human applications. But one gets the feeling that the holy grail of medical biotechnology (or should that be Pandora’s Box?) may be within reach very soon.
