The Use of Cloning Technologies

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The Use of Cloning Technologies

The ethical debate concerning cloning that has inevitably followed

since the announcement and much celebrated birth of Dolly the Sheep in

1997, is highly charged and emotive. When human cloning is mentioned

it normally has negative connotations with the individual conjuring up

a mental picture of a sub-human creature with an almost Frankenstein

like appearance. Many people are afraid of the idea because it is a

new technology and relatively misunderstood, and with the media using

shock headlines to sell newspapers, this alone feeds the fear within

us.

There is of course much uncertainty over the meaning of ‘cloning’.

This is the generalised term used by scientists to describe the

different processes for duplicating biological material. There are

varying forms of cloning ranging from therapeutic cloning which is

developed for medical purposes to eradicate diseases, or human cloning

where the entire human is cloned to create a new life.

However, cloning is not that far removed from the procedures that take

place every day when a couple are trying to conceive a baby with the

use of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment. The eggs from the

female and the sperm from the male are harvested and fertilisation

takes place outside of the female body in a laboratory. They are then

transferred back to the uterus to develop. It may take several

attempts and increase the chances of multiple births; twins and

triplets are not uncommon. With Cloning a donor egg is harvested, it

has it’s own DNA structure or nucleus which is removed and then

replaced with the new DNA material obtained from the original human

...

... middle of paper ...

...n be

used for the greater good and not for unauthorised experimentation in

the wrong hands.

(word count 1692)

Referencing

¹ Clonaid Press Release, January 2003, page 23, para 4.

² HFEA & ACGT Consultation Document on Preimplantation Genetic

Diagnosis para.22 1999

³ Closer, EMAP Group Plc, Page 29, Issue: November 2004, para.30.

Bibliography

http://www.betterhumans.com/New/news.aspx?articleID=2003-06-23-3

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/25/yourviewbaby.x

http://www.studentcentral.co.uk/page.cgi?link=2616;page=show;

http://www.studentcentral.co.uk/page.cgi?link=10989;page=show;

http://www.globalchange.com/clonaid.htm

Human Fertilisation and Embryo Authority Eight Annual Report and

Accounts 1999

Closer, EMAP Group Plc, Page 29, Issue: November 2004.

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