title: Telomeres and the ethics of human cloning.
abstract: In search of a potential problem with cloning, I investigate the phenomenon of telomere shortening which is caused by cell replication; clones created from somatic cells will have shortened telomeres and therefore reach a state of senescence more rapidly. While genetic intervention might fix this problem at some point in the future, I ask whether, absent technological advances, this biological phenomenon undermines the moral permissibility of cloning.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
authors.forename: Fritz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Allhoff
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics; D019976:Cloning, Organism / Q000941:ethics*; D026689:Ethical Analysis; D028663:Ethical Theory; D032984:Ethics, Research; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000941:ethics; D006801:Humans; D016615:Telomere