The ideal of cloning, the ability to make an exact replica of a living organism can be a very controversial topic. Ever since 1997 when the first mammal, Dolly, was cloned, cloning had become a reality. This technique opened many new doors to science, especially for medical research. There are three types of cloning; DNA, therapeutic, and reproductive. Both DNA and therapeutic cloning are largely accepted in today’s society, but reproductive cloning brings up an entirely new set of problems. Reproductive cloning is when the entire living organism is replicated. This is where the main controversy arises.
Reproductive cloning can be from anywhere to a plant, to animals, and lastly humans. It is okay for plants to be cloned. Plants do not have
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any conscience, and they are not entitled many of the rights that animals receive. It makes no difference whether or not the plant alongside it is identical to itself. In fact, before humans have ever invented cloning, the plant kingdom had already developed cloning among plants. There are multiple species of plants that have the ability to clone themselves. One example is the jade plant. When a part of the jade plant breaks off, that part has the capability to grow its own roots in the grown where it fell. Human have repeated this natural process by taking cuttings of the plant and placing them in the ground. The new plant that is produced is genetically identical to it’s “parent”. On the other hand, any type of animal, including humans is not okay. This poses countless unethical issues Cloned humans may be created so that the people who need organ implants have a perfect match, but consider the clone’s end. Creating another human that is genetically identical to another is still a human being. A human with their own mind and conscience. In addition, clones may be wanted to replace those loved ones that have been lost. Possibly someone who passed during a war or a child who died early in life. But, research has shown, that even with identical genetics animals can have a very different skin color, personality, and immune system from the donor of the DNA. Environment is also a large factor that contributes to a person’s individuality, so the clone would not necessarily act as predicted. Another wish may be to create the perfect army or team of star athletes. Then again, these individuals will then be viewed as nothing more than clones created to do what they were made for. This brings another question, if these clones failed to serve their purpose that they were created for, what would happen to them? Would they be thrown away like a defective tool? The creation of clones would create too many immoral problems, as individual human beings they are entitled to human rights. Thankfully many understand this problem, “90% of Americans are against human cloning regardless of their reason.”(Driscoll, Griswold 1) Along with humans, animals deserve rights too.
Many of the unethical aspects of human clones can be seen for animals. Animals are intelligent creatures who are capable of emotion and feel pain just like humans. In addition, it is proven that cloned animals face many more hardships, such as early deaths, premature births, tumors, organ defects, miscarriages and much more. If we find these unacceptable for humans, why should animals go through this? But lets look on the practical side of this too. Although animal cloning is not out of the ordinary any more, it is extremely expensive and difficult to produce a clone. “The Center for Food Safety claims that over 90 percent of cloning attempts fail.” (Driscoll, Griswold 1) Even Dolly, “took over 250 attempts to succeed, and in the end, she lived only half as long as normal sheep.” (Driscoll, Griswold 1) So why would you use it for livestock when the clone would end up costing more than the meat? Another reason why clones may be used is to produce desired traits in race horses and pets. Instead of cloning, breed two animals with the desired traits to get an equal, if not better results. If animals are continued to be cloned, they remain all the same, none will be unique and there will be no improvements. If they are bred, then it will keep the diversity and the generations will have to capacity to exceed the one before. To continue on the note of diversity, diversity is essential for the survival of any species. Without it, an entire species could be wiped out from a single virus that none of the animals have immunity to, or if there was an environmental shift, none would have the traits needed to survive the new surrounding. This issue is not as clear with animals as it is with humans. About 64% of people believe that animal cloning is morally wrong. (Lyons 2) Although this is still a majority, it is a drastic difference from the 90% that are against human
cloning. There is no harm to plants if they were to be cloned, on the other hand there are various immoral and also practical reasons for why both humans and animals should not be cloned.
Even though natural born animals present a higher survival rate, cloned sheep and cows show different results. Even if the cloned cows and sheep show a positive sign of survival, most of the cloned animals’ die either in the womb or after the clone exits the womb. (Anthes 63). Through this example, death dominates the choices of these cloned animals, and scientists continue the experiments for the benefits of humans. By focusing on human needs, the scientists pretend that animal welfare means absolutely nothing, but animals deserve safety just like humans. If scientists truly believe that cloning meets moral standards, than how come scientists cannot find a more effective way to decrease the failure rate of
Understanding the facts as well as procedures between the many different types of cloning is very crucial. When everything boils down there are three types of cloning known as DNA cloning, therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. DNA cloning is the copying of a gene in order to transfer it into another organism which is usually used by farmers in most of their crops. Therapeutic cloning is the use of stem cells used to help take the place of whatever cell is missing which is potentially used to help the ill. Stem cells contain the potential to grow and help replace the genes that are missing in order to fix whatever is genetically wrong with your body or any genes that you may be missing. Reproductive cloning actually produces a living animal from only one parent. The endless possibilities and perhaps hidden motives of using genetic engineering are what divide as well as destroy the scientific community’s hope for passing laws that are towards pro cloning. Many people within soci...
Human cloning research has once been the subject of terrifying science-fiction films and novels, science experiments gone wrong, accomplished only by the evil scientists twirling their moustaches. However, ideas presented on page and screen are rarely accurate. The possibility of cloning an exact copy of another human with one already fully developed is almost impossible, but through meticulous research, scientists have discovered the numerous benefits of cloning humans, either with individual cells or an embryo.
successful clones often have problems with their body and are subject to a short lifespan ridden with health problems. This hurts the person or animal cloned rather than to help them, making cloning an immoral
Genetic cloning may, to the public, be a relatively new technology but in reality scientists have been trying to accomplish this feat for hundreds of years. When used the right way and for the right reasons, genetic cloning for plants, animals, and humans can be used for the benefit of all.
It's been three years since the birth of Dolly, the world's first successfully cloned animal. The announcement of her birth brought about much ado and sparked many debates concerning the morality of cloning. In the three years since Dolly was created, the debate over cloning has swelled and receded, but has never been put to rest. A compelling issue that has come into focus in the past several years is the idea of human cloning. Many scientists believe that it is inevitable because the technology is there, and anything that can be done eventually will be done. They preach the value of human clones, dropping phrases like 'cure for disease' and 'prolonged life' to entice the public into supporting their cause. Though these concepts seem beguiling, the notion of human cloning, when looked at as a whole, has serious repercussions and should not be entertained lightly.
Cloning is a topic with complexities that should be taken into consideration before one simply agrees or disagrees with it. There needs to be ethical codes set to ensure that the beneficial attributes of this method, such as crop propagation and cell research, can be taken advantage of, and so the unethical concepts, such as human and animal cloning for reproduction, can be banned. Imagine the improvements of life that are possible in the near future for society with a moral stance taken on this matter; the possibilities for millions are indescribable.
Cloning has become a major issue in our modern world, from moral, ethical, and religious concerns, to the problem of financial and government support. Human cloning is one of the most controversial topics, and because of this, many of the new important discoveries and beneficial technologies have been overlooked and ignored. Reproductive cloning technology may offer many new possibilities, including hope for endangered species, resources for human organ transplants, and answers to questions concerning cancer, inherited diseases, and aging. The research that led up to the ability to clone mammals started more than a century ago. From frogs to mice to sheep to humans, reproductive cloning promises many possibilities.
The topic I chose was cloning, but I will be focusing on Human Cloning. Dolly the sheep was the first mammal to be created using cloning technology in 1997. With the birth of Dolly the sheep it had raise of a possibility of one day being able to clone human. It took 277 times to create dolly the sheep although it suffers from arthritis and premature aging. In December 2002, a religious group of Raelin claimed that a human baby was cloned but it had not been scientifically confirmed. In 1962 John Gurdon claimed to have cloned South African frogs from the nucleus differentiated adult intestinal cells. In 1964, F.E Stewart grew a complete carrot plant using the carrot root cells and to prove that cell cloning was possible. Francis Crick and James Watson were the first pioneers to discover double helix structure of DNA in 1953. It increased the scientific research of learning about human genetic codes and discovers the possibility of cloning. According to Vos (2004), “In 1984, Steen Willadsun cloned a sheep from embryo cells, which were the predecessor to Dolly’s method of cloning.” In 2002 Boisselier chemist and CEO of Clonaid, cloned Eve the first baby to be cloned and was 7lbs; she is known to be a healthy and happy baby. Eve was created by an America woman of 31 years old who donated her DNA for a cloning process. The woman didn’t give her name, but her embryo was implanted and then gestated to the baby, with that it would make an identical twin as an exact genetic duplicate of the mother. The reason why she decided to donate her DNA was because her husband was infertile of resorted cloning.
Specific Purpose: By the end of my speech, the audience will have learned about the history of animal cloning, how cloning can save endangered species throughout the world, a very large supply of livestock available for consumers, and how the medical field can greatly benefit from cloning development.
First of all, “Australia’s first cloned sheep appeared to be healthy and energetic the day she died, during the autopsy they could not find the cause (Castro, 2005).” There are many risks to cloning and you are seldom able to identify the cause of their death. “More than 90% of cloning attempts fail (Human Genome Program, 2006).” Most cloned animals died mysteriously even before they were born or when they were very young, so there is hardly any information on how clones age. Clones may be born with a normal looking body but may have internal functioning problems. “Cloned animals tend to have more compromised immune function and higher rates of infection, tumor growth, and other disorders (Human Genome Program, 2006).” There are many risks of cloning and a major factor is genetic differences.
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?
Recent discoveries involving cloning have sparked ideas of cloning an entire human body (ProQuest Staff). Cloning is “the production of an organism with genetic material identical to that of another organism” (Seidel). Therapeutic cloning is used to repair the body when something isn’t working right, and it involves the production of new cells from a somatic cell (Aldridge). Reproductive cloning involves letting a created embryo develop without interference (Aldridge). Stem cells, if isolated, will continue to divide infinitely (Belval 6). Thoughts of cloning date back to the beginning of the twentieth century (ProQuest Staff). In 1938, a man decided that something more complex than a salamander should be cloned (ProQuest Staff). A sheep named Dolly was cloned from an udder cell in 1997, and this proved that human cloning may be possible (Aldridge). In 1998, two separate organizations decl...
If you had the chance to bring a loved one back into this world to stop your pain, would you? Cloning, the process of taking a cell from one organism, taking a donor womb cell from another organism of the same species (which will not affect the clone’s genetic identity), inserting the original cell in the donor cell, and placing the newly developed embryo inside a surrogate mother. There are those who think that cloning is a wonderful idea and that it is acceptable to make life, from and identical to that which already exists. One reason people protest the idea of cloning is because many are mystified as to how it could be used and what its purposes can be. I know that if it were your child, you would use every possible measure to keep them alive. The fact that we, as humans, might be able to figure out how to clone so that lives could be saved is extremely exciting and inspiring. “With so much enhancement in medical science, cloning is slowly but surely looking like it could be in our near future. However, is it really an option that
Thesis: Margaret Somerville is stating, “Human cloning is inherently wrong,” because of the lack of genetic identity and diversity, how it can be very dangerous and harmful, as well as that it diminishes the value of life, and family.