Cons of Cloning Organs

Cloning is the process of creating an organism genetically identical to another organism. Scientists have successfully cloned many animals. One possible future application of cloning technology is the production of human tissue and organs for transplants.

• Opponents of organ cloning say it is risky, expensive and unethical.

Costly Failure Rate

• Cloning is expensive and inefficient; fewer than 10 percent of cloning attempts successfully produce viable offspring, and cloned animals often suffer severe medical issues and premature death.

Risks

• Scientists are trying to develop a genetically modified pig from which tissues and organs can be harvested. Of all successfully cloned animals, pigs are most genetically similar to humans. However, according to embryologist Ian Wilmut, this process risks the possibility of releasing pig viruses into the human population.

Ethical Dilemmas

• Embryonic stem-cell research, essential to therapeutic cloning, has been criticized as immoral because the extraction of stem cells destroys the embryo. Some critics have likened this to abortion.

Human Cloning

• Opponents say cloning organs represents one step closer toward cloning humans, a highly controversial subject.

Fictional Spin

• Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005 novel, "Never Let Me Go," which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is set in a dystopian society in which humans are cloned and then harvested for organs.