The Significance of Cloning Mammals on Human Cloning

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The Significance of Cloning Mammals on Human Cloning

Cloning has been going on in the natural world for thousands of years. A clone is simply

one living thing made from another, leading to two organisms with the same set of genes.

In that sense, identical twins are clones, because they have identical DNA. Sometimes,

plants are self-pollinated, producing seeds and eventually more plants with the same

genetic code. When earthworms are cut in half, they regenerate the missing parts of their

bodies, leading to two worms with the same set of genes. Any organism that reproduces

asexually; produces a clone. However, the ability to intentionally create a clone in the

animal kingdom by working on the cellular level is a very recent development.

From sheep to monkeys, scientist have made great strides in the past few years in

cloning mammals. The birth of these transgenered animals provides a major stepping

stone for the cloning of humans. Now groups say they are ready to clone a human being.

Controversy over their plan runs high, but scientists believe the technology for human

cloning, at least a limited type of cloning for now, is available. A revolution in

reproductive biology is now taking place, that provides technical means for cloning

humans. Many scientists who work with cloned animals say that the procedure is

difficult and dangerous and too ethical to try on humans. Therefore it is my purpose in

this paper to chronicle some events that have led to the still emerging technologies that

can be directly applicable to the of potential human cloning.

Dolly, born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland in 1996, was the first mammal to be

cloned from an adult mammal. When Ian Wilmut, Keith H. S. Campbell a...

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