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Cloning
Twenty-five years ago, scientists thought that cloning was virtually impossible.
In the last five years, the science of cloning, has come to realization. What is a clone?
A clone is a duplicate - much like a photocopy is a duplicate, or copy, of a document (Kolate, 238). A good example of copies that occur in nature are identical twins, which are duplicates of each other. On a daily basis, molecular geneticists and other scientists use cloning techniques to replicate various genetic materials such as gene segments and cells (Kolate, 238). Recently the cloning of a living life form was brought from the realms of science fiction to reality with the cloning of a sheep named Dolly (Kolate 236). Imagine meeting an exact replica of somebody or yourself seven to ten years from now (Kaku 6). They look alike, and even have the same genetic makeup. This is the new world of cloning. As with every new science, there are those who believe in it, and those who oppose it. So many questions arise. What if some one like Hitler had access to this technology? Would people want two identical copies of a child or a relative? What are the chances of people illegally obtaining blood samples of, for example, Albert Einstein, Bill Clinton, or even Lee Harvey Oswald for sale on the black market? Is there a way we can possibly outlaw and enforce cloning? Could this development actually be used for a benefit, such as bringing back endangered or extinct animals? The instantaneous reaction of the world has been mixed. However, the overall benefits appear to out weigh the other factors. This new technological development can not be passed off. It has the potential of enormous benefits to society. The new technology of cloning should be utilized because it could bring back extinct organisms, help infertile couples to have children, and potentially save many lives.
Cloning could bring back extinct animals (Kaku 227). Over millions of years, thousands of different species have gone extinct. Most were due to natural selection, while several others were due to human intervention. Approximately two-thirds of all the native bird species (Kendall n/a) and one-fifth of the native plants (Kendall n/a) originally found on the Hawaiian Islands have gone extinct recently. Predators, competitors, or diseases introduced by humans from continental areas are responsible for many of the extinctions. Also, many remaining species on other oceanic islands are threatened or endangered.
Children grow up watching movies such as Star Wars as well as Gattaca that contain the idea of cloning which usually depicts that society is on the brink of war or something awful is in the midsts but, with todays technology the sci-fi nature of cloning is actually possible. The science of cloning obligates the scientific community to boil the subject down into the basic category of morality pertaining towards cloning both humans as well as animals. While therapeutic cloning does have its moral disagreements towards the use of using the stem cells of humans to medically benefit those with “incomplete” sets of DNA, the benefits of therapeutic cloning outweigh the disagreements indubitably due to the fact that it extends the quality of life for humans.
Cloning is a real process that scientists use today to reproduce an exact living copy of DNA from the DNA of another living organism. When the idea of cloning first came about in the early 1800’s people believed it to be more science fiction than actual science. People didn’t understand the concept of cloning and therefore was naturally scared of the subject. It is best understood by how the Department of Animal Sciences at Cornell University explains it, “Cloning is a method of producing two or more genetically identical organisms by asexual reproduction. This means that there is only one parent cell, from which all the genetic information will come. Thus, the DNA sequence of cloned organisms is exactly the same as that of the parent cell.” Despite the general population’s disbelief there have been major scientific advances in the cloning process in the last fifty years. After many years of trial and error the first successful clone was created.
“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.
Cloning has been in nature for thousands of years, a clone is a living thing made from another consisting of the same DNA. For example identical twins are clones because they have the same DNA but the differ because the twins begin after conception when a zygote, a totipotent stem cell, divides into two, some plants self-pollinate and produce a seed, which in turn, makes plants with the same genetic code (Hyde). According to the Human Genome Project there are three types of cloning, DNA, therapeutic and reproductive; DNA cloning involves transferring DNA from a donor to another organism, therapeutic cloning, known as embryo cloning, involves harvesting stem cells from human embryos to grow new organs for transplant, and last is reproductive cloning which creates a copy of the host (Conger). One of the earliest cloned animals was a sea urchin by Hans Dreisch in the late 1800’s. Unlike Victor Frankenstein, Dreisch’s goal was to prove that genetic material is not lost in cell division, not to create another being, (History of Cloning) stated by Frankenstein “that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.” There are many ways an animal...
The eradication of species numbers average at a toll close to one hundred percent of earths total living creatures. “It is the Earth's most severe known extinction event, with up to 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct” (Sahney, and Benton 759). Not only where marine and terrestrial species effected but this catastrophic event is the only recogni...
Herbert, Wray. The World After Cloning. U.S. News and World Report. March 10, 1997: 59-64.
Long-term survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Murphy, 1994). Genetic diversity within a species, which has taken 3.5 billion years to evolve, makes adaptations to these changing environments possible. Unfortunately, the rate of extinction of genetically diverse organisms is rapidly increasing, thus reducing this needed biodiversity, largely due to the human impacts of development and expansion. What was an average of one extinction per year before is now one extinction per hour and extinct species numbers are expected to reach approximately one million by the year 2000 (WWW site, Bio 65). As a result governmental and societal action must be taken immediately!
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?
In spite of the overwhelming amount of negative speculation, the practice of de-extinction might potentially produce some positive ramifications. According to Stewart Brand, a writer for National Geographic, humans should bring back extinct species “to preserve biodiversity, to restore diminished ecosystems...and to undo harm that humans have caused in the past.” If humans were to tamper with nature and bring back an extinct animal, desolate ecosystems which previously thrived, such as deserted islands, could be partially restored through their
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.
Cloning is defined as the process of asexually producing a group of cells, all genetically identical, from a single ancestor (College Library, 2006).” Cloning should be banned all around the world for many reasons, including the risks to the thing that is being cloned, cloning reduces genetic differences and finally it is not ethical. Almost every clone has mysteriously died even before they are born.
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.
Various plant and animal species depend on each other for what each offers and these diverse species ensures natural sustainability for all life forms. A healthy and solid biodiversity can recover itself from a variety of disasters. It is estimated that the current species extinction rate is between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than it would naturally be. Therefore, there is an urgent need, not only to manage and conserve the biotic wealth, but also restore the degraded ecosystems. c) Captivity breeding species can again be reintroduced into the wild.
Seidel, Jr., George E. "Cloning." World Book Student. World Book, 2014. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. source 19