Cloning is a very controversial subject and contains various standpoints. It is a fairly new subject and the technology of it is still in its first stages. There have been many debates over the ethics, consequences, and benefits of cloning. Several pieces of legislation have been passed to regulate and prevent cloning from advancement and potential problems.
HISTORY
Cloning has been viewed as a magic trick of sorts with a repulsive connotation within our society for decades. Despite such taboo, the first successful clone surfaced in 1952 when scientists performed the first effective nuclear transfer from a tadpole embryo into a frog egg. This jumpstarted the evolution of cloning, and from then on huge advancements were rapidly accomplished in the field. In 1997, Dolly the Sheep was born—the first clone produced from an adult mammal. Scientists used a somatic cell nuclear transfer. This is when a cell is placed in a de-nucleated ovum and the two cells then fuse together and form an
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Through potential medical breakthroughs and preventative measures, cloning could help avert and cure diseases. Therapeutic cloning could be used to study human development and treatments for illnesses. It could theoretically generate virtually any type of specialized cell in the body (The New Atlantis). Cloning could also be used for transplants; DNA could be taken from the person needing the transplant and subsequently be inserted into an enucleated egg. The egg would then start to divide and the tissue would be harvested. In 2013, scientists discovered a possible breakthrough in battling diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease with cloning techniques using personalized stem cells. These are all potential groundbreaking finds that could result from furthering today’s cloning
Have you ever imagined what life would be like if we could eliminate human problems? This is the question that arises when the issue of human cloning or human cloning of the organs is brought up. Cloning is the process where organisms, cells, or microorganisms are copied to produce an almost identical genotype. In other words, the cloning process involves taking a cell from the tissue of a live animal or human, inserting all or some of the genes from that cell into an embryo, which is then placed in the womb of a living creature. There, this embryo is hoped to reproduce into a child, and be born as a clone of the living being from which the cell is taken. Cloning is also called "somatic cell nuclear transfer," it is the transfer of a nucleus of a somatic cell to an egg that has had its nucleus removed. Cloning is beneficial to humanity, and it can help solve organ limitations, cure diseases, and take a giant step toward immortality (Anderson, 60).
Cloning is a recent innovative technique the National Institute of Health defines as a process employed to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity. Depending on the purpose for the clone, human health or even human life can be improved or designed respectively. “Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is the most common cloning technique. SCNT involves putting the nucleus of a body cell into an egg from which the nucleus has been removed."^1 From this technique, an embryonic cell is activated to produce an animal that is genetically identical to the donor. Today, human cloning still remains as a vision, but because of the success of Dolly, the lamb, researchers are becoming more confident in the ability to produce a genuine
Cloning is, and always has been an extremely contentious topic. To some, the ethical complications surrounding it, are far more promiscuous than what scientists and medical experts currently acknowledge. Cloning is a general term that refers to the process in which an organism, or discrete cells and genes, undergo genetic duplication, in order to produce an identical copy of the original biological matter. There are two main types of artificial cloning; reproductive and therapeutic, both of which present their respective benefits and constraints. This essay aims to discuss the various differences between the two processes, as well as the ethical issues associated with it.
For decades, cloning was merely a topic mentioned in the text of science fiction novels. It was simply a fictitious fantasy that proved to only be for entertainment purposes. However, while all those novels and films were being produced, a multitude of scientists attempted to make what society thought of as a dream, into a reality. The science of cloning is the process of making genetic duplicate of an organism. The scientific history of cloning spans more than 100 years dating back to 1885, and still going strong today. In general, there are two main purposes for cloning: therapeutic or reproductive. Reproductive cloning is performed with the intent of making a complete organism. Therapeutic cloning is performed to harvest stem cells for use in medical treatment, such as cloning organs for transplant. There are benefits and consequences for each process that have sparked ethical and scientific debate over the years. With the help of advancements in technology in the future, cloning can provide medical breakthroughs.
By applying research from cloning normal cells to cloning stem cells, a wider range of people can be helped, and the cost of procedures will be lowered. Scientific research into cloning will allow doctors study how to safely replicate
This is explained by Craig Freudenrich. He discusses this on the website HowStuffWorks. Freudenrich tells of how Ian Wilmut and his colleagues successfully cloned Dolly the sheep at the Roslin Institute in Midlothian, Scotland. Dolly the sheep was the world's first successfully cloned mammal, cloned from an adult somatic cell. He writes how after Dolly, scientist have been cloning animals like cows and mice. “They rely on transplanting the genetic information from a specialized cell into an unfertilized egg cell, whose genetic information has been destroyed or physically removed.” (How Cloning Works) This information is very enlightening to anyone who questions how cloning works. Furthermore it secures the information needed to inform the general public of what they need to know to have a responsible and appropriate
In the article “A clone of one’s own” by Virginia Morell, explains how cloning works and the steps to perform it. A French chemist heard that a Scottish scientist had produced a sheep cloned from an adult cell. Rael had predicted the development twenty three years before. Valiant Venture offers a service to help parents who want to have a child cloned from them. As of late February, it had a list if more than a hundred people who would like to be cloned for a minimum fee of $200,000. Making a human clone is not a matter of following a recipe. Scientists first began trying to clone animals using adult cells in 1938. In the 1970’s, frogs were cloned via the nuclear transfer method, however, there can still be damage to the DNA. French chemist heard a sheep was cloned from an adult cell. In late February, had a list of more than 100 people wanting to be cloned. More people are wanting to be cloned because they think they’ll live longer but it won’t work. In 1938, first attempt at cloning animals and in 1970’s, frogs were cloned. They finally cloned animals, now they’re going to try the
The techniques used in cloning research raise important ethical issues especially concerning the potential use of these techniques in humans. Science has an ethical obligation to present the public with both the benefits and burdens of cloning research, because cloning research could have detrimental effect on humanity. Cloning could be detrimental due to the uncertainty of science and technology and the possibility of extinction of a particular species.
Cloning, specifically cloning humans, can be a very beneficial field of research. The science in embryonic cloning has progressed a long way since the release of therapeutic cloning practices and the birth of cloned organism. The processes opens new opportunities in the fields of medicine, scientific research, and has several uses in the future when there are more advanced practices that are even more efficient and safer with fewer restrictions. None of these ideas are very far fetched, cloning can be a great thing in mere years.
When the news first came out in 1996, Dolly the sheep was a global phenomenon. After 277 attempts, she was the first mammal cloned from an udder cell taken from an adult sheep (Lerner 2014). The success of this experiment paved the way into the world of animal cloning for many researchers and scientists to search for multiple uses that cloning could provide. However, cloning also comes with complications and obstacles to overcome. The many methods, benefits, and successes of animal cloning have proved that this could someday become a norm in the world, but, by looking at some of the problems with cloning, it could also be an idea that could never make the big leagues.
Cloning will certainly expand the scope of medicine greatly, thus enhance the possibilities of conquering diseases such as the Parkinson's disease, cancer and other diseases that were earlier considered incurable
There is a need for us to view cloning research in the right perspective. As with any other medical research, it can be a double-edged sword if exploited in the wrong manner.
Cloning has a very and I mean very low percentage of success. “The success rate ranges from 0.1 percent to 3 percent, which means that for every 1000 tries,” says the Genetics Department at Utah University. Think about it this way, for every 1,000 attempts at cloning an animal 1 to 30 clones are made. The first clone, Dolly the Sheep took more than two-hundred and fifty tries. Dolly the Sheep was not technically the first clone on July 5th 1996 but was the first to reach adult hood, the first clone was actually created in the Nineteen-Fifties, they were tadpoles that did not turn into
There are many diseases that are impossible to treat. Now, it is the time to broaden the knowledge about cloning. This may be the new method to cure, but due to being afraid the progress may be slowed down.
Cloning for medical uses has the ability to benefit millions of people. First of all, with cloning you can clone animal models of disease. Most scientists that test the cause and effects of human diseases use mice as test subjects. Usually scientists introduce the disease to the animals for testing. However, giving the animals the disease requires a lot of trial and error. Cloning could significantly diminish the time needed to create these animal models and the outcome would be a community of genetically identical animals. In addition, scientist can use cloning to make stem cells. Stem cells are the building blocks of the body that maintain and repair the body throughout ones life. Stem cells can repair the body by themselves and can be used to repair or regenerate damaged organs or tissues. Some scientists are even looking at cloning as a way to create identical stem cells from the same human and help prevent heart attacks or strokes. If a stem cell is cloned that has a disease researchers and scientist can understand the disease more and understand treatment. (Why Clone?, January 6, 2014)