Human Cloning

Human Cloning

For the last few decades, cloning was a fictitious idea that lay deep within the pages of sci-fi novels and movies. The very idea that cloning could one day become reality was thought to be a scientific impossibility by many experts. But on February 22, 1997, what was thought to be purely science fiction became reality. That day, a team from the Roslin Institute, led by Dr. Ian Wilmut, changed the history forever by revealing what looked like an average sheep. And its name was Dolly. Dolly became one of the most famous if not the most famous sheep in modern day. She was the first ever clone of a mammal. She was an exact biological carbon copy, a laboratory counterfeit of her mother. This news shocked the world for Dolly was the key to many new and prosperous possibilities (DeMuth 8).

But Dolly was not the first clone ever. Cloning of a more limited sort had been done before her. Creatures such as mice, frogs and salamanders had been cloned from as early as the 1950's. This procedure included the destruction of the nucleus inside the egg cell. Then a new donor cell would be brought and injected into the egg cell as a replacement. The egg would then grow into offspring of the same genetic make-up as the donor. Later on in the 1970's a new technique was developed. This technique included transferring the genes from one organism to another by combining the DNA from a plant or animal cell with the DNA in bacteria. This cloning technique allowed for the growth of many endocrine system treatments such as hormone, insulin and interferon (Robinson 300).

In 1993, researchers at George Washington University Medical Center cloned cells from human embryos. This was accomplished using the DNA technique, ...

... middle of paper ...

...ality. Clearly the issue is not a simple one. The debate over cloning is just beginning, and activists feel that this matter may be the biggest ethical concern of the 21st century. Cloning could change humanity as we know it. So what should be done? Which side of the debate is stronger? On one hand, this could save and even reincarnate lives! But on the other hand, it could also devalue and damage lives. Currently, the technology is not fully developed. Just weeks after Dolly the sheep was born, President Clinton pushed for legislation to ban human cloning until the scientific facts were clear and the ethical consequences were widely discussed (DeMuth 18). While I believe this was the right step to take and showed considerable restraint, I do not believe that science will wait for society to sort out their feelings and will move ahead, if they have not already.