Charting the debate


Cell Sources and Uses
	Source	Use	Status
	In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)	Reproductive	Legal, commonplace, widely acceptable, but surplus embryos usually destroyed.
	In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)	Therapy (To provide embryonic stem cells)	Now legal; still in research stage. Possible problems with immune rejection in recipient.
	Adult Genetic material comes from adult cell in donor (e.g. skin or blood cell). Egg never meets sperm; no genetic recombination; could be problems of premature aging of genes.	Reproductive (Adult cells revert to embryos to provide embryonic stem cells)	Far-fetched; dangerous to baby. Not under active consideration.
	Adult Genetic material comes from adult cell in donor (e.g. skin or blood cell). Egg never meets sperm; no genetic recombination; could be problems of premature aging of genes.	Therapy	May be possible; would avoid ethical problems of using cloned embryos. Immune rejection in recipient is possible.
	Cloned Genetic material comes from adult cell in donor (e.g. skin or blood cell). Egg never meets sperm; no genetic recombination; could be problems of premature aging of genes.	Reproductive Cloning Would be banned by current Senate bill.	Probably can be done, but endangers health of baby and ethically problematic even to supporters of therapeutic cloning. Almost certain to be banned.
	Cloned Genetic material comes from adult cell in donor (e.g. skin or blood cell). Egg never meets sperm; no genetic recombination; could be problems of premature aging of genes.	Therapeutic Cloning Would be banned by current Senate bill.	May be possible; avoids immune rejection by recipient. Stem cells may carry defective genes that caused recipient's disease.