Cloning
Cloning is the process of replicating organism’s genes into one or many identical copies of itself. For hundreds of years, genetic scientists have been studying and experimenting with this idea. Cloning is still a new procedure and has a lot of controversies. Some scientists prophesize that cloning will make the world a better place due to the many applications of cloning that would benefit the world. Other scientists are concerned about the long-term effects it may have to spark the question, “is it worth it”. Cloning has been successful in many cases for animals and plants but the idea of cloning humans is something still farfetched for modern technology. In this report I will be covering how cloning started, the process in which
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Due to technology and experiment repetition using artificial embryo twinning the world has seen numerous other successful animal replications. In 1996 a new cloning procedure called “somatic cell nuclear transfer” was completed in a female sheep known as Dolly after attempts by the “Rosalyn team”. A somatic cell is any cell in the body that is not a reproductive cell. The cell contains a nucleus which holds DNA which is divided into the genetic material called chromosomes. The process works by secluding a somatic cell from an adult organism, in this case, a sheep and from here the cell nucleus is removed from an egg cell and replaced with the somatic cell nucleus. Once the new cell has developed into an embryo it is then placed in a replacement mother to finish the process of replication. Dolly was successfully cloned but she came with a health defect causing her telomeres to be short. Telomeres are the caps at the end of your chromosomes that protect them from damage and infection and can be associated with age based on their length. Dolly’s short telomeres early in her life meant that her body was older than she actually was which caused her to deteriorate at a young age which evidentially made her prone to infection. Dolly was diagnosed with lung cancer and eventually died. Scientists believe that Dolly’s death is due to the telomeres length. Since the DNA came from an adult sheep, the telomeres had not been fully renewed during her development. The death of Dolly sparked controversy towards cloning and whether or not it should be used in more serious applications like endangered species and human cloning. In 2009 an endangered Spanish mountain goat was cloned through the somatic cell nucleus transfer process but the goat died immediately after birth due to a birth defect which raised
There are many questions surrounding the concept of cloning. Is it morally correct? Are clones
Before Dolly the cloned sheep made news headlines, the same researchers had only the year before raised seven other sheep from oocytes whose nuclei had been replaced with nuclei from either fetal or embryonic tissue.1 This created a minor stir as this is the "first report to [their] knowledge, of live mammalian offspring following nuclear transfer from an established cell line."1 The implications of this is that they have provided techniques to analyze and modify gene functions in sheep (By providing clones of the same sheep).1 The key to their success is the "serum starvation" that the donor cell undergoes, to force the donor cell into a 'quiescent' state, so that it is not replicating its DNA or dividing. This possibly makes the nucleus more susceptible to re-programming by the recipient egg cell.
Human cloning is the process by which genetic material from one person would be artificially transferred into a human or animal egg cell, thereby beginning the life of a new human individual who has only one parent and who is genetically identical to that parent. The once impossible idea of cloning became a reality in 1997 when Scottish embryologist Ian Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced that a cloned sheep named Dolly was born. Dolly was created by removing the nucleus from a sheep egg cell and replacing it in the nucleus of a cell taken from the udder of another sheep. This said might sound good, but there are other pieces of information that need to be known about this process. ...
“Cloning represents a very clear, powerful, and immediate example in which we are in danger of turning procreation into manufacture.” (Kass) The concept of cloning continues to evoke debate, raising extensive ethical and moral controversy. As humans delve into the fields of science and technology, cloning, although once considered infeasible, could now become a reality. Although many see this advancement as the perfect solution to our modern dilemmas, from offering a potential cure for cancer, AIDS, and other irremediable diseases, its effects are easily forgotten. Cloning, especially when concerning humans, is not the direction we must pursue in enhancing our lives. It is impossible for us to predict its effects, it exhausts monetary funds, and it harshly abases humanity.
Have you ever seen a movie or read a book where they can tell what your child will look like or if they have a disease or birth defect. Or have you ever wondered how the world would be shaped if we could have clones or even erase genetic diseases. All of these things are theoretically possible with stem cell research. If we are able to reach this point what would we have to sacrifice in the process. To understand humanity would we have to sacrifice the values that truly make us human? What would the fail rate be if we are able to genetically enhance the human body?
Cloning is a recent innovative technique the National Institute of Health defines as a process employed to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity. Depending on the purpose for the clone, human health or even human life can be improved or designed respectively. “Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is the most common cloning technique. SCNT involves putting the nucleus of a body cell into an egg from which the nucleus has been removed."^1 From this technique, an embryonic cell is activated to produce an animal that is genetically identical to the donor. Today, human cloning still remains as a vision, but because of the success of Dolly, the lamb, researchers are becoming more confident in the ability to produce a genuine
It's been three years since the birth of Dolly, the world's first successfully cloned animal. The announcement of her birth brought about much ado and sparked many debates concerning the morality of cloning. In the three years since Dolly was created, the debate over cloning has swelled and receded, but has never been put to rest. A compelling issue that has come into focus in the past several years is the idea of human cloning. Many scientists believe that it is inevitable because the technology is there, and anything that can be done eventually will be done. They preach the value of human clones, dropping phrases like 'cure for disease' and 'prolonged life' to entice the public into supporting their cause. Though these concepts seem beguiling, the notion of human cloning, when looked at as a whole, has serious repercussions and should not be entertained lightly.
Cloning is, and always has been an extremely contentious topic. To some, the ethical complications surrounding it, are far more promiscuous than what scientists and medical experts currently acknowledge. Cloning is a general term that refers to the process in which an organism, or discrete cells and genes, undergo genetic duplication, in order to produce an identical copy of the original biological matter. There are two main types of artificial cloning; reproductive and therapeutic, both of which present their respective benefits and constraints. This essay aims to discuss the various differences between the two processes, as well as the ethical issues associated with it.
Ever since the successful birth of Dolly on July 5, 1996, the scientific community as well as the public have been engulfed in the idea of reproductive cloning, its benefits, and its potential threats. This well-publicized event was a giant steppingstone in understanding and using the techniques of gene cloning and reproductive cloning. By using a technique known as Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, scientists at the Roslin Institute removed the nucleus from an oocyte (unfertilized egg), and then fused this newly enucleated cell with a donor cell (with complete nucleus). This new embryo was then implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother ewe. In total, out of 277 fused cells, 29 successfully developed into embryos, while only one of these resulted in a successful live birth (a total success rate of 0.4%) (Wong, 202). Dolly was the first living mammal to be cloned by this fast and accurate process of somatic cell nuclear transfer, but was by no means the first animal to be cloned. The first...
Human cloning research has once been the subject of terrifying science-fiction films and novels, science experiments gone wrong, accomplished only by the evil scientists twirling their moustaches. However, ideas presented on page and screen are rarely accurate. The possibility of cloning an exact copy of another human with one already fully developed is almost impossible, but through meticulous research, scientists have discovered the numerous benefits of cloning humans, either with individual cells or an embryo.
In recent years our world has undergone many changes and advancements, cloning is a primary example of this new modernism. On July 5th, 1995, Dolly, the first cloned animal, was created. She was cloned from a six-year-old sheep, making her cells genetically six years old at her creation. However, scientists were amazed to see Dolly live for another six years, until she died early 2005 from a common lung disease found in sheep. This discovery sparked a curiosity for cloning all over the world, however, mankind must answer a question, should cloning be allowed? To answer this question some issues need to be explored. Is cloning morally correct, is it a reliable way to produce life, and should human experimentation be allowed?
Cloning, especially human cloning attracts increasingly more attention after the first mammal cloning animal Dolly born in 1997. Cloning is divided into two categories: therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. Therapeutic cloning is more related to tissue level cloning to transplant healthy cells and reproductive cloning is individual level cloning. Thus, the term cloning in this essay is used to describe both individual level and tissue level cloning. Public have different views. Some people support it because of its medical value, yet some people argue that it may bring many safety risks and moral problems. Hence, decisions ought to be made to identify the extent of cloning. Therefore, this essay introduces two major benefits of human cloning on disease therapy and analysis two arguments against it on safety and ethical issues.
been made possible but yet a majority of them have died in early stages of development or after birth according to the study of the cloned sheep, Dolly (Magalhães 1). Those who make it suffer from several defects acquired from birth (Magalhães 1). During recent experimentation it took scientist Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, and his colleagues who created Dolly (a cloned sheep) 277 tries before they got a healthy, feasible lamb (Human Cloning 1). Due to the complication of human cloning even more deaths and deadly birth defects can be expected (Human Cloning 1). Even though human cloning has never been performed, one likely possibility is that babies born through this process will as well feature lethal birth defects (Magalhães 1).
Dolly, a sheep, is the first cloned mammal created. She was born twenty years ago and died six years later from osteoarthritis. Dolly had joint and lung problems reminiscent of old age. When researchers examined the length of her telomeres, they found biological age surpassed her chronological age. “Some worried that this meant clones would age prematurely, carrying the same biological clock as the adult cells they’d been created from,” evidence article 2 says.
As an individual person and human being, we are raised with family values. We are taught about the value of marriage, parenthood and respect. Cloning will bring the demise of those values. With today's technology and cultural diversity in America these values are rapidly diminishing. "Changes in the broader culture make it now vastly more difficult to express common and respectful understanding of sexuality, procreation, nascent life, family, and the meaning of motherhood, fatherhood, and the links between the generations" (Kass and Wilson 7).