[Ethical aspects of human cloning for therapeutic purposes and the use of embryonal stem cells].
Embryo definition is without any ambiguity: it consists in a stage of development able to give rise to an autonomous organism. In this sense, it is obvious that human embryos could be produced by cloning. If the therapeutic prospects of therapeutic cloning are confirmed, there will be a tension between two ethical logics: to respect human embryos as possible persons ... and to improve the condition of severely affected patients. Whatever the definitive solution, its moral significance should be denied. In contrast, it seems possible to use spare embryons for selected research without considering them only as things.
Unité de Recherches en Physiopathologie et Pathologie Génétique moléculaire-Unité 129 de l'INSERM-CHU Cochin Port Royal, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques-75014 Paris.
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Kahn
D019976:Cloning, Organism; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology*; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D013234:Stem Cells