Cloning
Duplicating of genes and DNA…. Cloning? Cloning is basically the reproduction of cells. You take an unfertilized cell, combine it with a cell from the same organism and create a new living cell. The question is…is cloning OK? Is the breeding of a bigger and meatier cow and fresher healthier potatoes equal to cloning a person? Many different groups debate upon these questions. Religious groups argue that God created all, and he thrives on diversity. This diversity is being threatened by cloning. Some also believe the process which scientists use is murder. Because half of the nucleus used to make a normal being is sucked out, and destroying the original DNA is murder. The half set of DNA in the unfertilized egg cell is destroyed, but suggesting that destroying a mere nonliving, nonthinking chemical such as DNA is murder is ridiculous. Thousands of cells will die in your body as you're reading this, and their DNA will be destroyed with them. Is that murder?
Cloning, in it’s use right now with just foods and animals are quite beneficial. It opens many opportunities for both scientific and general population needs. Scientists use cloning techniques to make identical test subjects, so reducing the amount of error in animal tests. They can also protect endangered species by cloning couples in captivity. Many can benefit from organ cloning, although the process has not been perfected yet. Human ears have been reproduced on mice, which shows all the applications of cloning. In the future, this genetic mutation may save the lives of countless people that are if we can use animals to grow human organs in. The possibilities for this process have no boundaries.
Like anything else that is new, the cloning process can be used for wrongful purposes. For instance, when a species is too much alike, the possibility of a single disease wiping it out is very high. Overlook the disease and you bread weak animals. However, are the scientists vulnerable to our criticism for say overlooking the viruses or hereditary sicknesses? Or should we credit them for perhaps looking into that already? The scientists have no doubt already considered the consequences of over breeding in these plants and animals that are weak and diseased. Yet our society relies on the same small variety of plants and animals for our natural resources. All of this was, in actuality, happening before cloning started and it doesn't change much in the way of agriculture.
There are many questions surrounding the concept of cloning. Is it morally correct? Are clones
Even though natural born animals present a higher survival rate, cloned sheep and cows show different results. Even if the cloned cows and sheep show a positive sign of survival, most of the cloned animals’ die either in the womb or after the clone exits the womb. (Anthes 63). Through this example, death dominates the choices of these cloned animals, and scientists continue the experiments for the benefits of humans. By focusing on human needs, the scientists pretend that animal welfare means absolutely nothing, but animals deserve safety just like humans. If scientists truly believe that cloning meets moral standards, than how come scientists cannot find a more effective way to decrease the failure rate of
Today, we as a society world wide have a new issue to deal with. Science has discovered the means in which to clone animals, opening a whole new discussion. Many people are inclined to say why would science even wish to peruse this method of research. Lewis Thomas says in his essay "The Hazards of Science"
In essence, the long-term effects of cloning are completely unknown. When studying cloning, we may see its desirable effects, but we neglect its many unknown effects. At the mention of cloning, many may contemplate Mary Shelley’s famous novel Frankenstein. Although fictional, the novel does show some truth. In the novel, Shelley warns of the dangers that come as a repercussion of knowledge, with Victor Frankenstein’s dialogue “seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries.” (Shelley) Today, we find ourselves debating similar ethical issues that Mary Shelley considered long ago. With so many incredible discoveries that lie in our future, we must also consider the responsibilities that come with these discoveries. If not, we may suffer the same fate as Victor Frankenstein had in the novel
But on the contrary, many scientists believe that cloning can be such a positive achievement, not only for medical purposes, but for fighting extinction. For example, what if they could clone many of the endangered species that exist today? There are very few hundred of many beautiful animals that if something isn’t done to save them, they will be extinct in a few years. So if scientists could successfully clone and create these endangered species, although it would still depend on the clone maturing correctly and being able to reproduce successfully, it could be a great
In the essay, Cloning Reality: Brave New World by Wesley J. Smith, a skewed view of the effects of cloning is presented. Wesley feels that cloning will end the perception of human life as sacred and ruin the great diversity that exists today. He feels that cloning may in fact, end human society as we know it, and create a horrible place where humans are simply a resource. I disagree with Wesley because I think that the positive effects of controlled human cloning can greatly improve the quality of life for humans today, and that these benefits far outweigh the potential drawbacks that could occur if cloning was misused.
Imagine being a first year medical surgeon just out of the highest-ranking university in the nation. You are placed in the ER, in the Methodist Hospital building, as your days are spent saving people from the cruel realities that they are forced to live among. Day after day, you see handfuls of people coming in with a variety of gunshot, knife, and domestic violence wounds. Your troubles are easily compensated, however, by receiving over $200,000 a year, a brand new Mercedes, and a house upon the palisade shores. Suppose for a moment that one evening while you are on duty, an ambulance radios in and informs the hospital staff that they are bringing in a multiple gunshot wound victim and to prepare the ER for an immediate operation. You begin to order people around and dictate what needs to be prepared before the ambulance arrives. Finally the victim is present, only to show that he is not the average gangster or policeman, instead it is the near lifeless body of your own son. Your blood freezes; your brain shuts down, as you see every precious second slip away through the lifeless gaze of your child's eyes.
In order to strongly argue against cloning, there must be an understanding of its process and what exactly it is. Simply stated, a clone is a duplicate just like a photocopy. A good example of such “copies” that occur are identical twins, which are duplicates of each other. “The first step of DNA cloning is to isolate a complete gene and is to chromosomal sequences and then to gradually begin flaking the chromosomal sequences of a single DAN molecule. Then the DNA clone can be electronically labeled and used as a probe to isolate the chromosomal sequences from a collection of different types of genes, which should contain cloned sequences that would represent the whole gene. This action will produce new sets of cloned cells identical to the mother cell. The new set of cells are isolated and likewise the simplified process is repeated all over again until the cells form a complete organ. In order to produce a complete organism the DNA must be altered in a variety of way to come out with the finished product to be the complete organism.” In simple terms, a cell is taken from a donor woman. Then an unfertilized egg is taken from a second woman. The DNA from the cell is removed and transferred to the egg. The egg is then implanted into a surrogate mother. The resulting baby is genetically identical to the original donor.
First I want to talk about the many benefits that cloning has to offer our society. The goals and purposes of cloning range from making copies of those deceased, to bettering engineering the offspring in humans and animals. Cloning will insure a stable mixture of robustness and productivity in all agriculture and commercially important livestock. Cloning can provide the ability to add new genes to an animal's repertoire and to precisely modify its existing genes. Cloning could have a powerful impact on agricultural efficiency. Cloning selective types of breeds can help to produce a much healthier and stronger animal by giving it all of the strongest genes possible. The goal of transgenic livestock is to produce livestock with ideal characteristics for the agricultural industry, ad to be able to manufacture biological products such as proteins for humans. With the knowledge we have gained about cloning, we can produce...
Scientists have no problem with the ethical issues cloning poses, as they claim the technological benefits of cloning clearly outweigh the possible social consequences, not to mention, help people with deadly diseases to find a cure. Jennifer Chan, a junior at the New York City Lab School, said, "?cloning body organs will help save many patients' lives," she said. "I think that cloning is an amazing medical breakthrough, and the process could stop at cloning organs--if we're accountable, it doesn't have to go any further." This argument seems to be an ethical presentation of the purpose of cloning. However, most, if not all scientists agree that human cloning won?t stop there. While cloning organs may seem ethical, cloning a human is dangerous. Still, scientists argue that the intentions of cloning are ethical. On the other hand, there are many who disagree with those claims. According to those from a religious standpoint, it is playing God, therefore, should be avoided. From a scientific standpoint it is also very dangerous, as scientists are playing with human cells which, if done wrong, can lead to genetic mutations that can either become fatal to the clone, or cause it severe disabilities. This information does, in fact, question the moral of the issue. If cloning is unsafe and harmful, what is the point?
Cloning is defined by Webster is “a cell, cell product, or organism that is identical to the unit or individual it was asexually derived” (Webster 150). The actual process of cloning is considerably easier because of trial and error. This process can be helpful and can be deadly in the right hands. In this light, the ethics of cloning has, is, and will be one of the hottest topics of all time.
Secondly, “the most the human race has to loose by playing around with cloning is that the genetic diversity would be lost (Andrea Castro, 2005).” Reducing the genetic differences will produce clones that are grossly overlarge, many animals will be born with genetic mutations, and there will be a higher “risk of disease transfer (Saskaschools, 2003). “A review of all the world's cloned animals suggests that every one of them is genetically and physically defective (Leake, 2002).” Mutations will be passed on to the younger generation because if a cloned species has a mutation in their DNA this mutation will be passed on. Cloning has been linked with diseases of ageing, arthritis and, cancer.
Cloning is a process by which genetically equal organisms are created with the same DNA. In simplest terms, clones are like twins born at different times. This procedure poses various dangers to society and humankind. One of the greatest threats this procedure creates is among
1) Robertson, John A. “Human Cloning and the Challenge of Regulation,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 339, no. 2 (July 9, 1998), pp. 119-122.
In terms of being an advantage, it can help decrease the death rate by destroying disease and has the potential to increase the lifetime of humans. Based on what scientists have discovered, genetic engineering is used as a beneficial technique to slow down the aging process of people, meaning it helps to store more life. Cloning is one of its biggest successful advantages which has developed a whole new discovery in today’s life, making life more interesting and easier. This cloning process has made it possible for scientists to make copies of many animals such as sheep and has also led technology to the next level where the famous human genome project has been successfully completed.... ...