Cloning, Triumph or Tragedy?

Cloning, Triumph or Tragedy?

The creation of life through scientific experiments is not a new concept. The idea has been in existence as far back as two hundred years. Mary Shelley was far ahead of her time when she brought the human like creature to life in her writing of "Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus." The story of "Frankenstein" was written as a myth, yet it continues to leave the world intrigued today. The idea of creating human or animal life is now in the making, except there is a twist to creating this new life. It is known as cloning, bringing an exact replica of cells to life to create an animal or a human that is already in existence. Though human life has not yet been a part of cloning, the cloning of one lamb has recently occurred. The advantages to cloning as well as many ethical dilemmas will be discussed, According to one document, "The technology to clone is simple, though far from perfect." Various views will also be shared from J. Michael Bishop¹s"Enemies of Promise." Scientists will express their beliefs in the advancement of technology and the use of science in today¹s world.

Many definitions of cloning have been brought to light by groups and organizations. The American Medical Association defines it as "the production of genetically identical organisms via somatic cell nuclear transfer." Cloning is the method of producing a baby gene that has the same gene as its parent. The idea of cloning all began in 1997 with embryologist, Ian Wilmut, from Roslin Institute in Scotland. He and his colleagues were the first to clone a lamb they named "Dolly." Before this experiment was proven successful, cloning was thought to be an impossible endeavor. It is true that the technology to clone does exist, but ...

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... it is human failure that causes problems in our society. People need to think harder about the reality and the effects cloning could have on society before cloning itself becomes real. If human cloning ever does become legalized and takes place, I surely hope that science doesn¹t take the bad ³rap² for it, but the failure of humans instead. We saw Victor Frankenstein¹s failures, we saw other accounts of failures. Maybe we should learn from the various examples, that human life is extremely fragile and to distort it could change the human race forever.

Works Cited

Bishop, J. Michael. ³Enemies of Promise.² 237-242 Farnsworth, Joseph (2000, April) To Clone or not to Clone. http://farnsworth.tripod.com/Humancloning/cloning_m.htm Marty, Martin (1997, May)

A Wolf in Sheep¹s Cloning. http://thelutheran.org/9705/page26.html Shelley, Mary. ³Frankenstein.² 231-235