Therapeutic cloning refers to a procedure which produces cells, specific body parts, and organs to be utilized for medical purposes. Although this has only been realized with parts of bladders[2], early cleavage-stage human embryos have been cloned[3][4] and this is the subject of much active research. Currently, patients subjected to transplantation are administered immunosuppressive drugs to prevent recognition of the foreign transplant by their immune system and its subsequent rejection. The ability to clonally derive tissues and organs from the patients' own cells would abolish the need for immunosuppressive drugs and would allow the patients to live a life without the potentially serious side-effects of immunosuppressive drugs. More importantly, the ability to clonally derive organs would alleviate the current shortage of transplants and would possibly reduce waiting times for transplants to become available
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