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Cloning
What is cloning? The simple explanation: Cloning or nuclear transplantation or somatic cell nuclear transfer involves removing the nucleus (containing a cell's DNA) from an egg cell, and transplanting the DNA from an adult cell into the enucleated egg. The egg is shocked into simulating of fertilization. When the fertilized egg is implanted into the uterus, it has the potential to develop into a full organism. This organism has the same DNA as the donor of the adult cell. The organism would be an exact copy of the adult -- at least biologically. This is "reproductive cloning." (Benagiano & Primiero, 2002)
People have come on different sides of the philosophical divide when the topic of human cloning is brought up. (Goodnough, 2003) Dolly the sheep was the first mammal cloned (Wilmut et al., 1997) -- Dolly is now dead. Recently the Raelian's (who believe that they have descended from aliens) made claims to have cloned (Tomasch, 2002) the first human baby. These unsubstantiated claims are fodder for sensationalism.
While most bio-ethicists, among them, Leon Kass (former President Bush's appointee) and Professor Glenn McGee at the University of Pennsylvania have come against human cloning (either for the imposition of a moratorium or complete, unequivocal ban), other medical personnel and scientists like Michael West (President and CEO of Advanced Cell Technology), Richard Seed (a scientist from Chicago), Panos Zavos (President and CEO of Zavos Diagnostic Laboratories, Inc.), Severino Antinori (a fertility expert from Italy enabled a 62-year-old woman have a baby) and Lee Silver (molecular biologist and professor of genetics at Princeton University) are some experts that are cloning's main proponents. With the debate on cloning, there is an air of inevitability: no matter what the debate, cloning will proceed. Also, the convictions of the people on different sides of the issues are so firmly rooted, that it would be extremely difficult to convince them otherwise. (McGee, 1998)
Bibliography
Benagiano, G., & Primiero, F.M. (2002). Human reproductive cloning. Int J. Gynaecol Obstet. 79(3), 265-268.
Goodnough, D. (2003). The debate over human cloning, Berkeley Heights, NJ, Enslow Pub.
McGee, G. (1998). The human cloning debate, Berkeley, Calif., Berkeley Hills Books.
Tomasch, P. (2002, December 28, 2002). The sportswriter, the aliens, and a cult with 55,000 believers. The Guardian.
Wilmut, I., Schnieke, a.E., McWhir, J., Kind, a.J., & Campbell, K.H. (1997). Viable offspring derived from fetal and adult mammalian cells. Nature. 385(6619), 810-813.
Cloning has become a very contentious subject. The issue of cloning has moved from the scientific arena into the cultural, religious and ethical centers of debate, for good reasons. The scientific implications of cloning affects a wide range of social and ethical concerns. The theory of cloning questions many essential areas of ethical and philosophical concern about what human life is and raises the question whether we have the right
"Animals that are experiencing dwindling numbers could be cloned to prevent their extinction. Taiwanese scientists claimed to have made five clones of an endangered pig to save this species" (Anonymous). While some say man should not play God there are others like Edmund Erde who disagree and say that "playing God" is a phrase that is "muddle-headed" and "nonsensical" and should be deserted (Edmund Erde, p.594). For those who
Cloning The debate about human cloning was carried out within the field of science fiction and fantasy, until recently. With the victorious cloning of the sheep Dolly in 1997, it became obvious that earlier or later, scientists might be able to clone human beings too. There is both encouragement and disagreement for this likelihood. Though cloning has been explained by newspapers and magazines as an exhilarating step onward that allows genetic
Experiments in the late nineteenth century on frogs provided the groundwork for cloning (McKinnell 9-10). The method used a decade ago for the successful nuclear transplantation in amphibians required that the egg be enucleated, which meant removing the maternal hereditary material contained in the egg nucleus. Other hereditary material contained in the nucleus from a body cell would then be placed in the enucleated egg, and the resulting clone would
and, that is, for how much longer should this experimentation be tolerated given the animal suffering involved and the deliberate creation of abominations of nature. Currently, many countries around the world have banned the use of reproductive, human cloning on ethical grounds, while allowing research to continue in the area of therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning of animals. Of course, there are also countries that are permitting the development of
Scientific research and specifically cloning is protected as a first amendment right, coupled with the benefits available with this technology, and the unimaginable benefits that can be reaped in the future, cloning is the hope of the future, despite the worries of critics. References After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning." The Futurist 40(4) Jul-Aug 2006: p. 62. InfoTrac database. Thomson-Gale. University of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ. July 5, 2006