Cloning Embryos Researchers are working to unlock the secret of cell differentiation, believing that when they do, they will be able to direct pluripotent stem cells down a select path of development, ultimately producing specific types of tissue to replace, for example, dysfunctioning brain tissue in patients with Alzheimer's. Stem cell research, however, has been controversial in the US since its beginning because stem cells are derived from embryos that are destroyed in the retrieval process. The guidelines prohibit use of federal funds to derive cells from embryos or to create embryos for research purposes. The NIH position against funding the destruction of embryos to retrieve stem sells is understandable. Since the embryos created in fertility clinics are destroyed also, it is not the outcome or consequence that matters but the intent.
Intent is a valid determinant in law as well as in ethics.
The NIH guidelines grant, in effect, that creating embryos with the intent that they be used in engendering a child demonstrates a respect for the sanctity of life that is missing when embryos are created or cloned for the sole purpose of destroying them to retrieve stem cells for research. The difference matters to the national conscience, the guidelines suggest, regardless of the final disposition of the embryos. If a couple is unable to reproduce because of insufficient or defective gametes in one or the other partner, then cloning one parent's genes enables the couple to have a child without introducing a third party's genetic material. In the early post-Dolly days, ethical opposition to this practice centered on the argument that the individuality and personhood of the cloned child would be compromised. He or she, it was claimed, would not have a unique genetic makeup.