Cloning: one small word with a big purpose. Cloning is the process that is used to create and produce genetically identical copies of an organism. Cloning has many promising applications in medicine, industry, conservation of life and basic research. Although cloning has proved to be technically challenging, when the process is successful, the effect is momentous. Moreover, genetic engineering, another word for cloning, is essential to research and creation of life. Cloning is a highly controversial subject and comes at a very high ethical price of messing with genetic life for the purpose of creating it, or destroying it.
The era of laboratory cloning began in 1958 when F.C Steward cloned carrot plants. But, plant asexual reproduction has been manipulated through grafting and steam cutting for more than two thousand years prior. The first life changing breakthrough in cloning history came to be nearly forty year later in 1996 when, Scottish scientists cloned the first mammal. Using cells from an adult sheep and an egg cell, Dolly the sheep was created. It was the first time in history that adult cells were used to clone a mammal, instead of using embryonic cells. Since then, scientists have been able to clone mice, cattle and goats by using similar methods.
Cloning begins by separating a specific length of DNA that contains the specific gene that you want to copy. The small particle of the gene is then placed into another DNA strand called the vector, which after time is transformed into a recombinant DNA molecule. That molecule is used to transport the gene into a host cell, like yeast, the DNA can replicate away from the nuclear DNA to produce clones. Cloning also occurs naturally in some plants and bacteria. Plants a...
... middle of paper ...
...the research just may be worth the success in the end. Advances in scientific research will tempt some for “the best” reasons, but setting aside others dignity for just a possibility of human life may not be worth the convictions of this method.
Works Cited
"Cloning Fact Sheet." Cloning Fact Sheet. National Institues of Health, 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 15 May 2014
"Human Cloning Laws." NCSL Home. West Group, Jan. 2008. Web. 15 May 2014.
Petechuk, David. "Clone and Cloning." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 899-902. General OneFile. Web. 6 May 2014.
"Pros and Cons of Human Cloning - HealthRF." HealthRF. HRF, 6 Dec. 2013. Web. 15 May 2014.
(Smith, Wesley J. "The Arrival of Human Cloning; It's here. Don't get used to it." The Weekly Standard 27 May 2013. General OneFile. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Farrell, Courtney. "Cloning: An Overview. By: Farrell, Courtney, Carson-Dewitt, Rosalyn, Points of View: Cloning, 2013." Ebscohost.com. Mackinvia.com, 2013. Web. 21
McGee, Glenn, (2001). Primer on Ethics and Human Cloning. ActionBioscience.org. Retrieved October 3, 2004, from: http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/mcgee.html
Choi, Charles Q. "Cloning of a Human." Scientific American 302.6 (2010): 36-38. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.
Many people do not really know or understand what human cloning is and tend to misunderstand its use. By providing acceptable examples, Macklin opens the door to exploring further research.
First, what exactly is cloning? In biology, cloning is used in two contexts: cloning a gene, or cloning an organism. Cloning is the reproduction of a human or animal whose genetic substance is identical to an existing being, such as an embryo or fetus. This is reproductive. Cloning a gene means to extract a gene from one organism and insert it into a second organism. Cloning an organism means to create a new organism with the same genetic information as an existing one. This is therapeutic.
Cloning is a process that creates exact genetic copies of an existing cell.Cloning is a more general term that describes a number of different processes that can be used to produce genetically identical copies. The process of cloning can happen either naturally, for instance, when identical twins develop or it can be induced through synthetic conditions in a laboratory. There are three different types of artificial cloning: gene cloning, reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning.
Human and animal cloning traces back to a long time in history. There has been many changes and improvements throughout the times. For example, cloning had started with smaller, easier subjects to work with. Researchers have found that "cloning of plants (such as growing a plant from a cutting) has been a common practice of mankind for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years" ("History of Cloning"). In earlier times, many scientists used plants to practice on and perfect before moving on. After they had perfected this, than they would move on to more complicated subjects. In addition, animals became the next experiments for the science of cloning. " Even cloning of small animals has a long history dated back to the 1960s; human cloning had not been thought possible until the successful cloning of the first mammal, Dolly the Sheep, in 1997" ("History of Cloning"). Dolly the Sheep helped scientists be convinced that ...
Herbert, Wray. The World After Cloning. U.S. News and World Report. March 10, 1997: 59-64.
To create a clone is to create identical copy. This imprecise definition can be tied to a number of creatures and processes in biology, those including, mono zygote (identical) twins (when one fertilized egg splits into two embryos in the first week of fertilization) , horticulture (a section of plant being implanted in a different place to create a decedent of the original plant) , and parthenogenesis (the method of asexual reproduction by females.) The creatures and processes listed above all fall under the category clones and cloning, but the difference between these and the clones and cloning processes normally referenced in, for example, science fiction, is where they occur. The examples listed are naturally occurring clones and cloning techniques, regarded as biology clones, whereas the other type of clones and cloning occurs artificially or in laborites. This genre of cloning is cloning in biotechnology. This cloning specifically refers to three established techniques: reproductive cloning, therapeutic cloning, and gene cloning. From observing the biological, naturally occurring cloning, scientists were able to create methods for created clones that are created in the laboratory intentionally. Although clones created through biotechnology are commonly associated with fantasy and science fiction, cloning animals with biotechnology is no fiction. There are even examples of animals being somewhat successfully cloned by scientists such as the lionized Dolly the Sheep. This type of technology even has the potential to clone humans, or extinct animals. Even though scientist have advanced technology and knowledge on cloning, the topic of whether or not this technology should be used is controversial. Despite the controversy and p...
Cloning is defined as the different processes for duplicating biological materials such as tissues and new life forms (“Cloning Fact Sheet” 2009). The cloning of human tissue should be allowed because the fields of medicine benefit from it; however, the full cloning of humans is a mockery of life because it creates a population of people who will not evolve or adapt to changes in the environment. Therefore, the government should financially support the research of therapeutic cloning while condemning the act of reproductive human cloning.
Farrell, Courtney Carson-Dewitt, Rosalyn. “Cloning: An Overview.” Points of View: Cloning (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
Cloning has come very far through science within the last few decades. Although it is a natural part of the world, scientists have taken a simple idea and expanded it further then what was thought possible. Though cloning faces many challenges, scientists such as Dr. Richard Seed continue their research in perfecting cloning in order to benefit the world. Cloning, a controversial topic thought to do harm, but simply misunderstood. The fact is, cloning could improve life more than what can be comprehended or as Dr. Richard Seed said, cloning will be taking “humanity one step closer to God.”
All in all people think cloning isn’t just a copy of something, but yet there is so much more to it than just creating a duplicate. The process of cloning is a very long process: which goes from the nucleus, to the embryo, and then is grown then birthed. Cloning is so complexed and so new to scientists. There is so much more to learn about cloning.
4) Kassirer JP, “Should human cloning be off limits?” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 338, no. 2 (June 1998), pp. 905-906
Seidel, Jr., George E. "Cloning." World Book Student. World Book, 2014. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. source 19